They Were Pleased (Acts 13:42)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/28/2018 10:10 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                   Focus: They were Pleased

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                           Reference:  Acts 13:42

            Message of the verses:  “42 As Paul and Barnabas were going out, the people kept begging that these things might be spoken to them the next Sabbath.”

            What we will be looking at in this SD is “The Initial Reaction” of what happened after Paul gave his sermon.  This is the name of the first main point from John MacArthur’s commentary and we will look at his short introduction to this main point:  “The preliminary response to Paul’s sermon by the synagogue audience was favorable, though that attitude would soon change.  Four features of their initial positive response stand out.”  We are looking at the first positive response in our SD for today.

            What we see in verse 42 looks really good because the whole town wanted to hear more from Paul and Barnabas, and it is no wonder after what they heard in the powerful sermon that Paul gave.  We have mentioned that the preaching of the gospel can give two different reactions and as far as the initial reaction it was positive.  Paul did a systematic sermon beginning with Abraham and going all the way up to David and then to His greatest son Jesus Christ.  John MacArthur writes “The ability to arouse people’s interest is the mark of a good preacher.  In Acts 17, Paul again displayed that ability:

‘10 The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. 11 Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.’

Paul’s persuasive preaching drove the Bereans back into the Old Testament to verify for themselves that what he preached was true.  Paul’s speech on Mars Hill to the pagan Athenians so stirred their interest that some said to him, ‘We shall hear you again concerning this’ (Acts 17:32).”

            I have mentioned the preaching of the late Billy Graham in a previous sermon and his preaching was so powerful that shortly after World War II when he wanted to go to Germany for a crusade they would not allow him to come there because they had heard before and during WWII a powerful man speak and were not ready for another even though this man’s message was certainly one they needed to hear.

            So after the powerful preaching of Paul the people in this town wanted to hear him again.  However for them to delay a decision to accept Christ was dangerous as we will see, and it was true of what Paul wrote to the Corinthians found in 2 Corinthians 6:2 “for He says, "AT THE ACCEPTABLE TIME I LISTENED TO YOU, AND ON THE DAY OF SALVATION I HELPED YOU." Behold, now is "THE ACCEPTABLE TIME," behold, now is "THE DAY OF SALVATION.’” What Paul quoted to the Corinthians was true and it is still true today, for if you hear the gospel do not wait to accept what Christ has done for you so that as you confess the fact that you are a sinner and accept what Christ has done for you then as Paul says, “you will be saved.” 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It was a little over 44 years ago when as far as I remember heard the gospel for the first time and it was very soon later when I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to reach out through my Spiritual Diaries and also with divine appointments that the Lord gives to me to tell other about Christ.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Cherubims” (Exodus 37:9).

Today’s Bible question:  “What nature did Christ take upon Himself?”

Answer in our next SD.

2/28/2018 10:35 AM

           

Intro to Acts 13:42-52

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/27/2018 9:42 AM

My Worship Time                                                                             Focus:  Intro to Acts 13:42-52

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 13:42-52

            Message of the verses:  “42 As Paul and Barnabas were going out, the people kept begging that these things might be spoken to them the next Sabbath. 43 Now when the meeting of the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and of the God-fearing proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, were urging them to continue in the grace of God. 44 The next Sabbath nearly the whole city assembled to hear the word of the Lord. 45 But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things spoken by Paul, and were blaspheming. 46 Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, "It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first; since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. 47 “For so the Lord has commanded us, ’I HAVE PLACED YOU AS A LIGHT FOR THE GENTILES, THAT YOU MAY BRING SALVATION TO THE END OF THE EARTH.’" 48 When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. 49 And the word of the Lord was being spread through the whole region. 50 But the Jews incited the devout women of prominence and the leading men of the city, and instigated a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. 51 But they shook off the dust of their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium. 52 And the disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.”

            John MacArthur entitles this third chapter in his second commentary on the book of Acts “The Troubling Gospel,” and when one thinks about that the gospel is truly troubling to many people who want nothing to do with it.  Paul states in Romans 1:16 “16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”  The Greek word for power gives us the English word dynamite, so we get an idea how powerful the gospel is as it changes lives for those who accept it.  As I think about the death of Billy Graham, I can’t help but think of how powerful his presentation of the gospel was to millions and millions of people.  I remember that there was a pastor from a Lutheran church who went to hear Billy Graham in Cleveland, Ohio one time when Mr. Graham was preaching and this pastor got saved, as he accepted Christ after hearing Billy Graham preach.  When he came back to his church it also changed and became a light in our community. 

            John MacArthur writes “When the gospel is preached power and conviction, the results can also be negatively explosive.  For the gospel first confronts sinners with the law and judgment, then the grace of God in Christ.  Such a confrontation and exposure of guilt, shame, and doom, along with the offer of salvation by grace, demands a response; it aoften forces people to rather passionate rejection.  It exposes them as the helpless sinners they are and strips them of their self-righteous pretenses and aspirations.  And that stripping often infuriates those who reject the message.”

            We could see this from the first preacher in the New Testament, John the Baptist as seen in John 1:19-22 “19 This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?" 20 And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ." 21 They asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" And he said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" And he answered, "No." 22 Then they said to him, "Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?"”  Once the Jews heard about John, I suppose that you could say that they were jealous of him and so they sent men to talk to him.

            Jesus says in Matthew 10:34-36 “34 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 "For I came to SET A MAN AGAINST HIS FATHER, AND A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND A DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW; 36 and A MAN’S ENEMIES WILL BE THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD.”

            After Jesus died for our sins and then went into heaven we have seen in the book of Acts how the gospel has brought both salvation and also persecution as the apostles began to preach it.  Now that we are in the second part of the book we will see that mostly the Jews are the ones who are bringing about persecution to the early church. 

            As we bring this to our day we still see that conflict will often occur when the true gospel is preached.  The gospel is offensive to those who do not accept it, and that brings up once again one of my pet peeves which is evolution.  Mankind was so offended with the gospel that they had to invent something that is impossible to happen so that men and women, boys and girls can say we are here by an accident and not here because the God in heaven has created us and we are accountable to Him. 

            As I usually do when we begin a new chapter from John MacArthur’s commentary I quote the last paragraph so we can understand the outline that he has written:  “Acts 13:42-52 finds Paul land Barnabas in Pisidian Antioch.  Here, too, the gospel would prove divisive.  Like a giant boulder cast into a tiny pond, it shattered the surface calm between the city’s various ethnic groups.  The passage describes the differing reactions to the sermon Paul had just preached (13:16-41).  The initial reaction seemed positive; the subsequent response was mixed.”   

            We will look at those two reactions and the sub-titles under them as we move through this last section of chapter 13 of the book of Acts.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I realize that the gospel is offensive to many people, but that does not mean that I should not tell people the truth of the gospel, for those who do not accept the forgiveness that Christ offers will die without Christ into a Christless eternity.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to trust the Lord that He will use my Spiritual Diaries to cause people to understand and accept the gospel.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Acts.”

Today’s Bible question:  “In the tabernacle, above the mercy seat, were spread wings of what?”

Answer in our next SD.

2/27/2018 10:17 AM

"Jesus: The Justifier of Sinners" (Acts 13:38-41)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/26/2018 9:03 AM

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  “Jesus:  The Justifier of Sinners”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 13:38-41

            Message of the verses:  “38 "Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, 39 and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses. 40  "Therefore take heed, so that the thing spoken of in the Prophets may not come upon you: 41 ’BEHOLD, YOU SCOFFERS, AND MARVEL, AND PERISH; FOR I AM ACCOMPLISHING A WORK IN YOUR DAYS, A WORK WHICH YOU WILL NEVER BELIEVE, THOUGH SOMEONE SHOULD DESCRIBE IT TO YOU.’"”

            One of the things that you can say about the Jewish people is that they know about sin.  They are not like people today who think that there is no God they will have to answer to, which is why Satan influenced some to come up with the theory of evolution.  The problem with the Jewish people that Paul was preaching to is that they did not know what to do about their sins.  When Jesus came to earth and began His ministry one of the opponents that He came up against were the “religious” Jews who thought that they could do good deeds in order to be right with God.  In this portion of the sermon that Paul is preaching to the Jews He is telling them “that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.”  I can remember talking to a friend of mine who worked with and for me for many years about the gospel.  He told me that no matter what that he was not going to change his religion.  All I can say is that a few years ago that he passed away, both he and his brother and to my knowledge he did not change his religion, and this brings fear to my heart that the place he entered into was not heaven.

            Job asked some compelling questions “9:2  "In truth I know that this is so; But how can a man be in the right before God?”  “24:4 “How then can a man be just with God? Or how can he be clean who is born of woman?”  The truth is that if a person asks these kind of questions is that they are close to understand that the only way a person can be right with God is through accepting what Christ has done for them on the cross when He died to pay for their sins. 

            John MacArthur writes “To those laboring in vain to earn their salvation through the law Paul dramatically proclaimed the most glorious, liberating truth imaginable:  ‘through’ Jesus ‘forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses.’  The atoning death of Jesus the Messiah fully satisfied the demands of God’s law (Gal. 3:13) ‘Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us-for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE.’ Making ‘forgiveness of sins’ available to ‘everyone who believes’ in Him.  That forgiveness is ‘from all sins’ (Col. 2:13-14).  ‘13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14  having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.’  How astonishing that the very sin of murdering the Messiah provided the sacrifice for all sin and the path to glory through the complete forgiveness of the sins of all who repent and believe.”

            It would be good for us to remember that Paul was an ex-Pharisee who thought for much of his life that a person could become right with the Lord by keeping the Law of Moses.  Paul, after his conversion knew that keeping the Law, which is something no one can do other than Jesus, could not save anyone.  He wrote the following to the Romans “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law (Rom. 3:28).”  The forgiveness offered in Christ will free sinners “from” that which they “could not be freed through the Law of Moses:” Paul affirms this truth which is found in Romans 3:20-22:

“20 because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin. 21 But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction.”

            At the end of Paul’s sermon he gives a warning to those who would rejects the truth of the gospel which is what he is presenting to his audience.  “"Therefore take heed, so that the thing spoken of in the Prophets may not come upon you.”  What was he talking about here?  He is talking about judgment to those who would not believe in what their Messiah had done for them.  “Behold you scoffers and marvel, and perish; for I am accomplishing a work in your days, a work which you will never believe, though someone should describe it to you (Hab. 1:5).”  This is the verse that Paul quotes to them as a warning to them if they would not believe or will they be like my friend who said under no circumstances would he change his “religion.” 

            John Macarthur ends this chapter in his commentary by writing “The sober words of the writer of Hebrews stand for all time as a warning to those who reject the gospel: 

“1 For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. 2 For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, 3 how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? (Heb. 2:1-3a).”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful that I can give out the full gospel message in this SD, praying that those who read it and are not believers can understand the truth of the gospel and do what is needed to be done.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust that the Spirit of God will use the truth of the gospel which is clearly seen in this SD to bring many souls to the Savior.

Answer to yesterday’s question:  “Cain” (Genesis 4:11-12).

Today’s Bible question:  “Which book tells of Paul’s conversion?”

Answer in our next SD.

2/26/2018 9:52 AM

PT-5 Jesus: The Fulfillment of Prophecy (Acts 13:23-37)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/25/2018 7:37 AM

My Worship Time                                          Focus:  PT-5 “Jesus:  The Fulfillment of Prophecy”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 13:23-37

            Message of the verses:  “23  "From the descendants of this man, according to promise, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, 24  after John had proclaimed before His coming a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. 25  "And while John was completing his course, he kept saying, ’What do you suppose that I am? I am not He. But behold, one is coming after me the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’ 26  "Brethren, sons of Abraham’s family, and those among you who fear God, to us the message of this salvation has been sent. 27  "For those who live in Jerusalem, and their rulers, recognizing neither Him nor the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning Him. 28  "And though they found no ground for putting Him to death, they asked Pilate that He be executed. 29  "When they had carried out all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb. 30 “But God raised Him from the dead; 31  and for many days He appeared to those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, the very ones who are now His witnesses to the people. 32  "And we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers, 33 that God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, ’YOU ARE MY SON; TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU.’ 34 “As for the fact that He raised Him up from the dead, no longer to return to decay, He has spoken in this way: ’I WILL GIVE YOU THE HOLY and SURE blessings OF DAVID.’ 35  "Therefore He also says in another Psalm, ’YOU WILL NOT ALLOW YOUR HOLY ONE TO UNDERGO DECAY.’ 36  "For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid among his fathers and underwent decay; 37  but He whom God raised did not undergo decay.”

            We will be looking at three promises that are found in verses 33-37.  The first promises is seen in verse 33 as we read “that God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, ’YOU ARE MY SON; TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU.’”  John MacArthur writes “Psalm 2:7, quoted here by Paul, predicts not only Christ’s incarnation but also His resurrection.  The resurrection magnified and glorified Christ’s sonship.”

            Promise number two comes from Isaiah 55:3, as it came true when God “He raised Him up from the dead, no longer to return to decay, He has spoken in this way: ’I WILL GIVE YOU THE HOLY and SURE blessings OF DAVID.’”  God had promised David that the Messiah would come through his line, which is what happened, but if the Messiah had not been raised from the dead then none of these blessings that God had promised through a living Messiah would never happen.

            John MacArthur writes the following on the third blessing and then his conclusion to this section:  “The last, and greatest, promise comes from ‘another Psalm,’ Psalm 16.  David writes in verse 10, ‘Thou wilt not allow They Holy One to undergo decay.’  That David had Messiah, not himself, in view is obvious, ‘for David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid among his fathers, and underwent decay.’  That David’s body remained in his grave after his death is also obvious, since no one believed that he had already been resurrected.  In sharp contrast to David, however, the One ‘whom God raised did not undergo decay.’

            “All those promises, and countless others, required the resurrection of Jesus for their fulfillment.  A dead Messiah, fulfills nothing.  Thus those promises are also powerful Old Testament proofs that Jesus is the Messiah.”

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Mount of Olives” (Zechariah 14:4).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who was cursed from the earth and became a vagabond and fugitive because he murdered his brother?”

Answer in our next SD.

2/25/2018 7:54 AM

PT-4 "Jesus: The Fulfillment of Prophecy" (Acts 13:23-37)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/24/2018 8:19 AM

My Worship Time                                          Focus:  PT-4 “Jesus:  The Fulfillment of Prophecy”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 13:23-37

            Message of the verses:  “23  "From the descendants of this man, according to promise, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, 24  after John had proclaimed before His coming a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. 25 “And while John was completing his course, he kept saying, ’What do you suppose that I am? I am not He. But behold, one is coming after me the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’ 26 “Brethren, sons of Abraham’s family, and those among you who fear God, to us the message of this salvation has been sent. 27 “For those who live in Jerusalem, and their rulers, recognizing neither Him nor the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning Him. 28 “And though they found no ground for putting Him to death, they asked Pilate that He be executed. 29 “When they had carried out all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb. 30 “But God raised Him from the dead; 31 and for many days He appeared to those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, the very ones who are now His witnesses to the people. 32  "And we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers, 33  that God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, ’YOU ARE MY SON; TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU.’ 34 “As for the fact that He raised Him up from the dead, no longer to return to decay, He has spoken in this way: ’I WILL GIVE YOU THE HOLY and SURE blessings OF DAVID.’ 35 “Therefore He also says in another Psalm, ’YOU WILL NOT ALLOW YOUR HOLY ONE TO UNDERGO DECAY.’ 36  "For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid among his fathers and underwent decay; 37  but He whom God raised did not undergo decay.”

            This is our fourth SD from Paul’s sermon at Pisidian Antioch, where his is speaking about the history of Israel which leads up Jesus’ fulfillment of prophecy which was prophesized about Him in the Old Testament.  I have heard the number of prophecies that Jesus fulfilled from the Old Testament when He came to planet earth the first time, but I can’t remember what that number was, but what I do remember is that if the entire state of Texas was covered with silver dollars six feet tall and a person was asked to find one particular silver dollar and finds it that would be the odds of Christ fulfilling all of the prophecies that He fulfilled the first time that He came to earth.  Another thing we can learn from this and that is if He fulfilled all of those prophecies that pertained to His first visit to planet earth we have to believe that He will fulfill the prophecies that will happen when He comes back to planet earth.

            We are beginning this SD by looking at the last part of verse 29, “laid Him in a tomb.”  When criminals were crucified during the time when Christ was crucified they were many times thrown into a mass grave, but not Christ because it was prophesied that He would be buried in the tomb of a rich man, which is what happened.  “9 His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth (Isa. 53:9).” 

            John MacArthur writes “In verse 30 Paul comes to the climactic truth of his sermon when he sounds the keynote of apostolic preaching by declaring that ‘God raised’ Jesus ‘from the dead’ (cf. Acts 2:24, 32; 3:15; 4:10; 5:30; 10:40).  Of all the proofs that Jesus is the Messiah, that is the greatest.  As Paul was later to write in Romans 1:4, Jesus ‘was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead.’”

            Next Paul will site evidence to the fact that Jesus did rise from the dead:  “31 and for many days He appeared to those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, the very ones who are now His witnesses to the people. “  According to 1 Corinthians 15:6 which is commonly known as the resurrection we see that there were more than 500 witnesses who saw Christ after he arose from the dead.  The apostle Paul is also a saw the resurrected Christ which is one of the qualifications of being an apostle.  Josh McDowell wrote two books, “Evidence that Demands a Verdict,” and then “More Evidence that Demands a Verdict” that gives as the title suggests evidence that Christ arose from the dead which is the heart of the Gospel message.  My wife and I just watched a move about the life of a reporter from the Chicago Tribune, Lee Strobel, who months after his wife became a believer came to Christ after doing a thorough investigation about who Christ is.  He now goes around talking to audiences of this truth.  Wikipedia states of Strobel “Strobel states he was an atheist when he began investigating the Biblical claims about Christ after his wife's conversion. Prompted by the results of his investigation, he became a Christian on November 8, 1981.” 

            We will conclude this SD, with one more to go, by quoting again from MacArthur’s commentary:  “Paul concludes this section on the resurrection by showing that by it ‘the good news of the promise’ God ‘made to the fathers has’ been ‘fulfilled.  In verses 33-37, Paul lists three of those promises.”  We will conclude this section in our next SD by looking at verses 33-37.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I am trusting that the Lord, in His will, will bring more people to our Sunday school class tomorrow to hear about what John wrote in Revelation chapter four.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Samson” (Judges 14:18).

Today’s Bible question:  “According to the prophet Zechariah, where will Jesus’ feet stand when He returns to the earth?”

Answer in our next SD.

2/24/2018 8:54 AM      

PT-3 "Jesus: The Fulfillment of Prophecy" (Acts 12:23-37)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/23/2018 8:41 AM

My Worship Time                                          Focus: PT-3 “Jesus:  The Fulfillment of Prophecy”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 13:23-37

            Message of the verses:  “23  "From the descendants of this man, according to promise, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, 24  after John had proclaimed before His coming a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. 25 “And while John was completing his course, he kept saying, ’What do you suppose that I am? I am not He. But behold, one is coming after me the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’ 26 “Brethren, sons of Abraham’s family, and those among you who fear God, to us the message of this salvation has been sent. 27 “For those who live in Jerusalem, and their rulers, recognizing neither Him nor the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning Him. 28 “And though they found no ground for putting Him to death, they asked Pilate that He be executed. 29 “When they had carried out all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb. 30 “But God raised Him from the dead; 31 and for many days He appeared to those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, the very ones who are now His witnesses to the people. 32  "And we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers, 33  that God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, ’YOU ARE MY SON; TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU.’ 34 “As for the fact that He raised Him up from the dead, no longer to return to decay, He has spoken in this way: ’I WILL GIVE YOU THE HOLY and SURE blessings OF DAVID.’ 35 “Therefore He also says in another Psalm, ’YOU WILL NOT ALLOW YOUR HOLY ONE TO UNDERGO DECAY.’ 36  "For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid among his fathers and underwent decay; 37  but He whom God raised did not undergo decay.”

            I want to begin with one more thing about John the Baptist and that is that according to Acts 19:1-3 John’s ministry was well known to Paul’s hearers.  “1 It happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the upper country and came to Ephesus, and found some disciples. 2 He said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" And they said to him, "No, we have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit." 3 And he said, "Into what then were you baptized?" And they said, "Into John’s baptism.’”

            Verse 26, “26 “Brethren, sons of Abraham’s family, and those among you who fear God, to us the message of this salvation has been sent,” is an important dividing line in Paul’s sermon as he readdresses the two groups in the audience as brethren as seen in verse 26.  The two groups are the Jews and the Gentiles who fear God. 

            Now as we go through Paul’s writings we see that he has his own style, and part of that style is that Paul will anticipate and then answer questions that may have been going through the minds of his listeners.  This is especially seen in the books of Romans, 1 Corinthians, and Galatians. 

            The first question is a question that Jewish people have wrestled with from the time of the apostles until now and that is whether or not Jesus is the Messiah.  If Jesus is the Messiah, then why did the Jewish leaders not recognize Him as their Messiah?  We can conclude that Paul was listening to the sermon that Stephen gave as he gives the same answer and that is because of the hardness of their hearts.  Paul explains that “those who live in Jerusalem, and their rulers, recognizing neither Him nor the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning Him.”  Paul is saying that the Jewish leaders read the very Scriptures that they would fulfill because they did not understanding what they were reading, and the reason they did not understand what they were reading was that their hearts were hard.  I have heard it explained that when unbelievers read the Bible it is as if they are trying to read a book in another language, thus they cannot understand it.  The Holy Spirit, the Author of Scripture is the One who opens the hearts of believers to understand His Word, and He will open the hearts of unbelievers when they are coming to know the Lord after He gives them an effective call. 

            The second question that Paul answers is if the Messiah was rejected, does that nullify God’s plan?  Paul replied far from it.  John MacArthur writes “Isaiah 53:3 foresaw that Messiah would be ‘despised and forsaken of men.’  (“3 He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.”)  They hated Jesus without cause, so that even ‘though they found no ground for putting Him to death, they asked Pilate that He be executed.’  They thus unwittingly fulfilled Psalm 69:4, ‘Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head’ (cf. John 15:25).”

            David wrote Psalm 22, and in this Psalm we can see what crucifixion was about many years before it was used.  What we read in this Psalm shows what Christ was going through as He hung on the cross, and the Jewish leaders had absolutely no problem doing this to Jesus because of their hatred for Him.  Paul talks of the aftermath of this in verse 29:  “29 “When they had carried out all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb.”  Jesus life that is recorded in the Scriptures was the fulfillment of prophecy as everything that He did while on earth was the plan of God for Him to do.  You may remember when He was 12 years old and seemingly lost according to His parents.  When they found Him in the temple He stated that He was about His Father’s business.  In John’s gospel we read at the end of His crucifixion just before He died He stated “It is finished.”  Jesus had finished His Father’s work for Him to do as those words actually mean “paid in full,” and Jesus paid in full for our sins.  Don’t be like the Jewish leaders who crucified Jesus, but accept the payment that He made for you realizing that is the only way that you will have forgiveness four your sins and be born-again.

            We will continue looking at this portion of Paul’s sermon in our next SD.  I said as we began this section that it would take us a while to get through it, but remember as we look at this we are listening to the preaching of the Apostle Paul.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  To think that Jesus would come to earth and die for me is more than I can understand, but I am thankful that the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to understand this truth.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  As I continue studying for my Sunday school lesson, my prayer is that the Lord will increase our numbers and that people will understand what this great book of Revelation teaches.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “I am come that they might have life; and have it more abundantly.”

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said, ‘If you had not plowed with my heifer, you had not found out my riddle’?”

Answer in our next SD.

2/23/2018 9:25 AM

PT-2 "Jesus: The Fulfillment of Prophecy" (Acts 12:23-37)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/22/2018 7:47 AM

My Worship Time                                          Focus:  PT-2 Jesus:  “The Fulfillment of Prophecy”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                     Reference:  Acts 13:23-37

            Message of the verses:  “23  "From the descendants of this man, according to promise, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, 24  after John had proclaimed before His coming a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. 25 “And while John was completing his course, he kept saying, ’What do you suppose that I am? I am not He. But behold, one is coming after me the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’ 26 “Brethren, sons of Abraham’s family, and those among you who fear God, to us the message of this salvation has been sent. 27 “For those who live in Jerusalem, and their rulers, recognizing neither Him nor the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning Him. 28 “And though they found no ground for putting Him to death, they asked Pilate that He be executed. 29 “When they had carried out all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb. 30 “But God raised Him from the dead; 31 and for many days He appeared to those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, the very ones who are now His witnesses to the people. 32  "And we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers, 33  that God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, ’YOU ARE MY SON; TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU.’ 34 “As for the fact that He raised Him up from the dead, no longer to return to decay, He has spoken in this way: ’I WILL GIVE YOU THE HOLY and SURE blessings OF DAVID.’ 35 “Therefore He also says in another Psalm, ’YOU WILL NOT ALLOW YOUR HOLY ONE TO UNDERGO DECAY.’ 36  "For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid among his fathers and underwent decay; 37  but He whom God raised did not undergo decay.’”

            We ended up yesterday’s SD by talking about how verse 23 is kind of a bridge verse in Paul’s message, bridging together the fact that Christ is the offspring of David and that prophetically; He was the One whom, according to promise, God brought to Israel as a Savior.  We will now begin looking at the first prophecy that Paul mentioned and that was about the forerunner to the Messiah, and that of course was John the Baptist.

            Isaiah 40:3-5 tells us “3 A voice is calling, "Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. 4 “Let every valley be lifted up, And every mountain and hill be made low; And let the rough ground become a plain, And the rugged terrain a broad valley; 5 Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, And all flesh will see it together; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.’”  Isaiah has been called a “mini Bible,” and the reason is that there are 66 chapters in Isaiah and there are 66 books in the Bible.  The Bible is divided up between the Old Testament which has 39 books, and the New Testament which has 27 books.  Isaiah is divided up between the first 39 chapters and the last 27 chapters beginning with chapter 40.  One of the first things we see when we begin the New Testament is that the gospel writers bring up John the Baptist very early in all their writings and as we look at these verses from Isaiah we see his first prophecy from chapter 40 is about John the Baptist. 

            Another prophecy about John the Baptist comes from Malachi 3:1 where we read 1 "Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming," says the LORD of hosts.”  Both prophecies were fulfilled in the person of John the Baptist.  John the Baptist was paving the way for the Lord Jesus Christ by going out into the wilderness and baptizing people and of course his baptism was not Christian baptism, but a Jewish ceremonial cleansing, and this symbolized true, heartfelt repentance, as Paul spoke of in verse 24 “after John had proclaimed before His coming a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.”  John was making sure that there were clean hearts before the coming of the Messiah. 

            The Bible tells us that Elijah was to come before the Messiah and Jesus spoke of this to His disciples when He was asked by them about the coming of Elijah, and some thought He was crying out to Elijah while dying on the cross.  Jesus told His disciples that Elijah did come and they did to him whatever they wanted, and the disciples knew that He was talking about John the Baptist.  What about Elijah then?  The following are a selection of verses from the gospel of Matthew which talk about Elijah:  “Mt 11:14 “And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come.”  “Mt 17:10 And His disciples asked Him, "Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?" Mt 17:11  And He answered and said, "Elijah is coming and will restore all things; Mt 17:12  but I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands." Mt 27:47 And some of those who were standing there, when they heard it, began saying, "This man is calling for Elijah." Mt 27:49 But the rest of them said, "Let us see whether Elijah will come to save Him."”

            Paul goes on in his sermon to let his listeners know that John the Baptist reported that he was not the Messiah, but that He was coming and he was not fit to untie his sandals. Untying sandals was the job for the lowest slave, and this speaks of John the Baptist’s humility.  Jesus said of John the Baptist that up until that time he was the greatest man who ever lived.  “11 “Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he (Mat. 11:11).” 

            John MacArthur writes “When confronted by Jewish authorities John clearly distinguished himself from the yet-to-be-revealed Messiah:  “19 This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?" 20 And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ." 21 They asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" And he said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" And he answered, "No." 22 Then they said to him, "Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?" 23 He said, "I am A VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, ’MAKE STRAIGHT THE WAY OF THE LORD,’ as Isaiah the prophet said’ (John 1:19-23).”  There is one more thing that I want to bring up about the coming of Elijah and that is that most people believe that it is Elijah and Moses who will be the two witnesses that are found in the Revelation 11: 3 “"And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth."” 

            We will continue looking at this portion of Paul’s sermon in our next SD.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Prayers” (2 Timothy 1:3).

Today’s Bible question:  “According to John 10:10, why did Jesus come to earth?”

Answer in our next SD.

2/22/2018 8:27 AM

PT-1 "Jesus: The Fulfillment of Prophecy" (Acts 12:23-37)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/21/2018 11:14 AM

My Worship Time                                          Focus:  PT-1 “Jesus:  The Fulfillment of Prophecy”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 13:23-37

            Message of the verses:  “23 "From the descendants of this man, according to promise, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, 24 after John had proclaimed before His coming a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. 25 “And while John was completing his course, he kept saying, ’What do you suppose that I am? I am not He. But behold, one is coming after me the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’ 26 “Brethren, sons of Abraham’s family, and those among you who fear God, to us the message of this salvation has been sent. 27 “For those who live in Jerusalem, and their rulers, recognizing neither Him nor the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning Him. 28 “And though they found no ground for putting Him to death, they asked Pilate that He be executed. 29 “When they had carried out all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb. 30 “But God raised Him from the dead; 31 and for many days He appeared to those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, the very ones who are now His witnesses to the people. 32 "And we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers, 33 that God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, ’YOU ARE MY SON; TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU.’ 34 “As for the fact that He raised Him up from the dead, no longer to return to decay, He has spoken in this way: ’I WILL GIVE YOU THE HOLY and SURE blessings OF DAVID.’ 35 “Therefore He also says in another Psalm, ’YOU WILL NOT ALLOW YOUR HOLY ONE TO UNDERGO DECAY.’ 36  "For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid among his fathers and underwent decay; 37 but He whom God raised did not undergo decay.”

            I want to begin with a verse from the book of Revelation “10 Then I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, "Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy’ (Rev. 19:10).”  In my John MacArthur study Bible he writes the following about the highlighted portion of this verse:  “The central theme of both OT prophecy and NT preaching is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.”  Paul is doing both in this sermon that he is preaching in this synagogue that is he is talking about the prophecies of the Messiah from the OT and also telling how these prophecies were fulfilled in Jesus Christ as we see in this portion of his sermon.

            The first prophecy of the Messiah is found in Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel."”  This of course speaks of what is only spoken of one time in Scripture and that is the “seed of the woman” which speaks of Christ’s virgin birth.  It also speaks of what Christ would accomplish on the cross as even though He would die, He would bruise Satan on the head which is a death blow.  We next move onto Isaiah 7:14 “14 “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.”  Once again we read about the virgin birth of Christ and this time we see it actually spelled out, unlike where it was actually eluted to in Gen. 3:15.”  Isaiah 9: 6 “6  For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”  Jesus certainly was and is our “Wonderful Counselor,” and He is the “Mighty God,” “Eternal Father, and Prince of peace.”  In Micah 5:2 we read about where He would be born:  “2  "But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity.’”  Matthew 2:1 verifies this “1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying.”  In Genesis 12:2-3 we read at the calling of Abraham that the Messiah would be one of his decedents:  “2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; 3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.’”  Now there are many other prophecies in the OT that speak of the Messiah that I will not put into this SD, with the exception of the ones which are favorites of mine and they  come from the book of Zechariah:  “9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey (Zech. 9:9).”  “12 I said to them, "If it is good in your sight, give me my wages; but if not, never mind!" So they weighed out thirty shekels of silver as my wages (Zech. 11:12).”  Zech. 12:10  “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.”  I realize that this last one (12:10) has not happened yet, but just as the others did happen, this one will also happen when Christ returns to planet earth as spoken of in the 19^th chapter of Revelation.

            We will end this first of what will probably many SD’s on this section with a quote from John MacArthur:  “Verse 23 ties together Paul’s first two points.  Historically, Jesus was ‘the offspring of ‘David.  Prophetically, He was the One whom, ‘according to promise, God brought to Israel’ as ‘a Savior.’  He was the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies of the coming Messiah.  In Him God’s ‘promise’ in the Old Testament was realized.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful that God has kept all of His promises about His Son, and will continue to keep them in the future.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I am trusting the Lord to give comfort to my wife as she has some minor surgery tomorrow.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “80” (Exodus 7:7).

Today’s Bible question:  “In what way did Paul remember Timothy night and day?”

Answer in our next SD.

2/21/2018 12:02 PM

PT-3 "Jesus: The culminatin of History"

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/20/2018 9:15 AM

My Worship Time                                            Focus:  PT-3 “Jesus:  The Culmination of History”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 13:17-22

            Message of the verses:  “17 “The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm He led them out from it. 18 “For a period of about forty years He put up with them in the wilderness. 19 “When He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He distributed their land as an inheritance-all of which took about four hundred and fifty years. 20 “After these things He gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. 21 “Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. 22 "After He had removed him, He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, ’I HAVE FOUND DAVID the son of Jesse, A MAN AFTER MY HEART, who will do all My will.’”

            I have to say that this section has taken longer for me to complete that I thought it would have, but when studying the Word of God you have to be sure that you are open to what the Spirit of God is doing in your heart and so sometimes the short sections take longer than the longer sections.

            One only has to read through the book of Judges to find out how Israel had sinned and continued to sin against the Lord.  Towards the end of the book of Joshua we read “31 Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, and had known all the deeds of the LORD which He had done for Israel.”   It was the second generation that were the ones who served the Lord and then after that we find that in the book of Judges it was an up and down service of the Lord by the people with the general direction down.  In my study of the seven churches in the book of Revelation we see the same thing happening in the church age as it began with the church at Ephesus losing their love for the Lord which began the downward spiral and when you take out the two churches, Smyrna and Philadelphia who Christ had no condemnation you can see the other five churches in a downward spiral.  You end up with the church at Laodicea where you actually find Christ on the outside of the Church asking to come in. 

            Paul then talks about the two kings that Israel first had, Saul and David.  Saul was the king that the people wanted and he turned out to be a bad king, and then David was the king that God chose for the people and he was a man after God’s own heart.  When the people cried out to Samuel the prophet for a king it broke his heart as he did not want to ask God to give them a king because he knew that the Lord was their king, but the people wanted to be like the nations around them as they wanted a king who would solve all their problems, but in reality it caused more problems for them.  In the 17^th chapter of the book of Deuteronomy Moses writes the following about Israel wanting a king:  “14  "When you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you, and you possess it and live in it, and you say, ’I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me,’ 15  you shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses, one from among your countrymen you shall set as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves who is not your countryman. 16  "Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since the LORD has said to you, ’You shall never again return that way.’ 17  "He shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself. 18  "Now it shall come about when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. 19  "It shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, by carefully observing all the words of this law and these statutes, 20  that his heart may not be lifted up above his countrymen and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or the left, so that he and his sons may continue long in his kingdom in the midst of Israel (Deu. 17:14-20).”  God knew this would happen as it was actually His plan because once David became king of Israel God made a covenant with him that the Messiah would be born through his line which of course Jesus was which is what Paul is leading up to in this sermon. 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  God knows everything and God has a plan for the people on planet earth and I believe that plan centers around His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord’s plane for my life even though at times it is not what I would choose for my life.

 Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Amos”

Today’s Bible question:  “How old was Moses when he first appeared before Pharaoh to deliver the children of Israel?

Answer in our next SD.

2/20/2018 9:57 AM

PT-2 "Jesus: The Culmination of History" (Acts 13:17-22)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/19/2018 10:46 AM

My Worship Time                                             Focus:  PT-2 “Jesus:  The Culmination of History

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 3:17-22

            Message of the verses:  “17 “The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm He led them out from it. 18 “For a period of about forty years He put up with them in the wilderness. 19 “When He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He distributed their land as an inheritance-all of which took about four hundred and fifty years. 20 “After these things He gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. 21 “Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. 22 "After He had removed him, He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, ’I HAVE FOUND DAVID the son of Jesse, A MAN AFTER MY HEART, who will do all My will.’”

            I think we know the story of how Israel ended up in Egypt as found in the book of Genesis where there was a famine in all the Middle-East and God had sent Joseph down to Egypt in order to become second in charge of Egypt so that he could make sure that there would be enough grain to sustain not only Egypt but those who came to buy grain from Egypt during the famine.  Jacob sent his sons to buy grain and Joseph knew who they were and eventually the entire family of Jacob ended up in Egypt so they could be preserved throughout the famine. After the death of all the patriarchs Israel began to grow so much that Egypt feared them and made them slaves, but God had promised to bring Israel out of Egypt way back in Genesis chapter fifteen and even told Abraham how long they would be there, 400 years.  Exodus 1:8 tells us “Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.”  This is when Egypt made slaves out of the Hebrew people and so they were looking for a redeemer to bring them out of Egypt, which was Moses.  Paul goes on to say “and with an uplifted arm He led them out from it.”  Paul is moving rapidly through the history of Israel which the people whom he was preaching to probably all ready knew about.  As we look at what Paul said about God bringing Israel out “with an uplifted arm” we can see the power that God has in order to do that.  God’s power is seen throughout the entire Bible beginning with the creation of the earth and all the universe, and in the New Testament God showed His power by raising our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead.

            John MacArthur writes “After the Exodus, God continued to care for the nation, as ‘for a period of about forty years He put up with them in the wilderness.’  The manuscript evidence is evenly divided between etropophorasen (‘He put up with them’) and etropophorasan (‘He cared for them’) (Bruce M. Metzger, A Texual Commentary on the Greek New Testament)…Both statements are true.  God cared for His people in spite of their rebellion, enduring their sin because they had a key role to play in His plan for history.”

            Next Paul talks about what happened after the forty years of wondering in the wilderness “And when He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He distributed their land as an inheritance—all of which took about four hundred and fifty years.”  I mentioned about God telling Abraham what He was going to do with his offspring and I would like to quote where He told Abraham this because if follows along with what Paul is preaching about.  “13 God said to Abram, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. 14 “But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions. 15 “As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. 16 “Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete’ (Gen. 15:13-16).”  This is a prophecy that God gave to Abraham about what would happen to he and his family, and by the way Abraham had no children at that time and both he and his wife were past the age of having children.  Notice also the highlighted portion of the text above as it tells us that God knew when the Amorites iniquity would go so far that God would have to destroy them.  I have often looked at this as God having a bottle in heaven with the iniquities of nations in it and when it get full He will act to destroy that nation.  I have also wondered how full that bottle is for our country.  We will continue looking at the remaining portion of the Scripture in our next SD.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I see in this section God’s power, God’s grace and forgiveness, God’s patience, and God’s plan.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  With all of the things that pertain to God in our passage I can say that I need to continue to trust the Lord.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Solomon” (1 Kings 8:22).

Today’s Bible question:  “Which prophet was a shepherd and dresser of sycamore trees and a native of Tekoa?”

Answer in our next SD.

2/19/2018 11:23 AM