PT-3 "Intro to Acts 13:14-41

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/17/2018 7:42 PM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-3 Intro to Acts 13:14-41

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 13:14-41

            Message of the verses:  Again I will not post the verses on this SD as they are on PT-1 of this section if you want to look at them.

            I promised to continue to look at John MacArthur’s comments from his commentary as he is describing the journey that Paul and Barnabas are taking on their first missionary journey.  “Luke’s terse statement passes over in silence what must have been an arduous journey (especially if Paul was ill with malaria).  The road from Perga to Pisidian Antioch, some one hundred miles away was difficult and dangerous.  It wound its way through the rugged Taurus mountains, clinging to cliffs that ascended to dizzying heights.  Travelers also had to cross the turbulent and flood-prone Cestrus and Eurymedon rivers.  The Taurus Mountains were notorious for the robber bands who infested them.  Those brigands, who had plagued Alexander the Great and Augustus Caesar, were still unsubdued in Paul’s time.  When Paul wrote, ‘I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers’ (2 Cor. 11:26), he may well have had this journey in mind.”   As you read over this quote one would have a hard time understanding why Paul and Barnabas did what they did unless you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord.

            When Paul and Barnabas finally got to Antioch they did what was normal for them to do and that is to preach in the Synagogues to the Jewish population in that city.  People in the Synagogues were eager to listen to Paul preach as he was undoubtedly a polished speaker who could hold the attention of those in his audiences.  However on far too many occasions the Jews would listen to him to a point when he began to speak about their Messiah who had come lived on earth preaching and doing many good things including raising the dead and healing people who were sick or crippled and then died and came back to life again and is now in heaven, as believes were awaiting His return and still are for that matter.

            15 After the reading of the Law and the Prophets the synagogue officials sent to them, saying, "Brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say it’ (Acts 13:15).”  “Verse 15 suggests the liturgy common to first-century synagogues.  The service opened with the recitation of the shema (Deut. 6:4ff.)—the Jewish profession of faith.  Following further prayers came ‘the reading of the Law and the Prophets.  Then came the teaching, usually based on that week’s Scripture reading.  Since it was customary to invite prominent visitors to deliver the teaching—and all the more so since Paul was a student of the celebrated rabbi Gamaliel—‘the synagogue officials sent to the, saying, ‘Brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say it.’”  (John MacArthur)

            We have mentioned that one of the names that could be given to the book of Acts is the Acts of the Holy Spirit as He was the One arranging where Paul and Barnabas went and when they could speak and also what they would speak to bring glory to the Lord Jesus Christ which is one of the things that the Holy Spirit does, and even continues to do today.  As we have read over this sermon we can see that there are two main characters that dominated Paul’s sermon and they are God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, even though Christ is only mentioned by name in verse 23.

            “Paul’s evangelistic message falls logically into three parts.  He presents Jesus as the culmination of history, the fulfillment of prophecy, and the justifier of sinners.”  This is the outline we will follow as we work our way through these verses from Acts chapter thirteen.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Jesus” (Luke 23:34).

Today’s Bible question:  “Of what country was Hiram King?”

Answer in our next SD.

2/17/2018 8:07 PM

            The marriage retreat that my wife and I went to was the best marriage treat we have ever gone to.  The one thing that happened to me however was that I had difficulty in sleeping in the Hotel room and did not get to sleep until 5:30 A. M.