SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/5/2018
9:26 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Intro to Acts 15:36-16:10
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 15:36-16:10
Message of the
verses: “36 After some days Paul
said to Barnabas, "Let us return and visit the brethren in every city in
which we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are." 37
Barnabas wanted to take John, called Mark, along with them also. 38 But Paul
kept insisting that they should not take him along who had deserted them in
Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. 39 And there occurred such a
sharp disagreement that they separated from one another, and Barnabas took Mark
with him and sailed away to Cyprus. 40 But Paul chose Silas and left, being
committed by the brethren to the grace of the Lord. 41 And he was traveling
through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.
1 Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra.
And a disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a
believer, but his father was a Greek, 2 and he was well spoken of by the
brethren who were in Lystra and Iconium. 3 Paul wanted this man to go with him;
and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those
parts, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. 4 Now while they were
passing through the cities, they were delivering the decrees which had been
decided upon by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem, for them to
observe. 5 So the churches were being strengthened in the faith, and were
increasing in number daily. 6 They passed through the Phrygian and
Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in
Asia; 7 and after they came to Mysia, they were trying to go into Bithynia, and
the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them; 8 and passing by Mysia, they came down
to Troas. 9 A vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was
standing and appealing to him, and saying, "Come over to Macedonia and
help us." 10 When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into
Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.”
John MacArthur entitles this chapter in his commentary on
the book of Acts “Evangelism the Right Way,” and we will follow his outline as
we look at these verses in the next days and because his introductory comments
on these verses is so short I will quote them for today’s SD. I have been in the practice to quote the last
paragraph of his commentary on my introductory Spiritual Diaries as they give
us the outline that we will be looking at.
“The Lord Jesus Christ
defined the church’s mission when He commanded believers, ‘God therefore and
make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and
the Son and the Holy Spirit’ (Matt. 28:19).
Throughout its history, the church has sought to carry out that mission.
“While there is general
agreement on the necessity of
evangelism, there is wide diversity as to methods. There are many different approaches, from
simple presentations of a few basic verses to sophisticated multimedia events;
from one-on-one encounters to citywide evangelistic crusades. Countless books, tapes, and seminars exist to
train Christians in how to share their faith.
Schools of evangelism, training centers, Bible colleges, and seminars
all offer courses in evangelism. There
is a bewildering plethora of tracts, booklets, and other evangelistic
literature, everything from “One Way to Heaven” to “Four Spiritual Laws,” to “Six
Steps to Peace with God,” to “Thirty-nine Steps to Salvation.”
“What is often overlooked in
the emphasis on methodology are the essential, foundational principles
undergirding all truly biblical evangelism.
The passage illustrates that evangelism calls for the right passion, the
right priority, the right personnel, the right precautions, and the right
presentation at the right place.”
I have to say that I have been to different classes and
courses to help me in leading someone to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe that the way that the Lord saves a
person, the method that He uses, as all are saved by placing their trust in the
Lord Jesus Christ, confessing that they were born a sinner and because of that
they sin, and so the Holy Spirit will convict them of this truth of being a
sinner, and then give them a call for salvation, and then they will be
saved. Let me give an example of the
methods that I am talking about. I was
saved by listening to tapes that taught about the end times, as I was very
frightened on what would happen to this world and to me once it was all
over. I have had the privilege to lead
people to the Lord and how I got them interested in salvation is by talking
about the end times. I think that everyone
has a desire to know how this world is going to end, what are the things that
will take place before the Lord actually un-creates this world, this universe
that He created. People are interested
about this no matter what age group they are in, and so that is what attracted
me to listen to the tapes on the end times and each one had a salvation call at
the end of it and so that is how the Lord saved me. Others may be saved in a church service and
so they may invite others to church. Some
may be saved by having people just knock on their door and so after they are
saved and grow in their faith they will do the same. I heard a story of how a person got saved,
which of course changed his life. A
person asked him what happened to him and he told them to go to the church
where it all happened to him and set in the end of the fourth row on the left
and it will happen to you. Well the
truth is that that person knew he was different, but did not really know what
happened to him, and that is why a person has to grow in the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ to be able to tell others how to be saved. The Apostle Paul began to tell others about
the Lord right after he was saved, but then the Lord had him go to the town he
grew up in and the Spirit of God taught him about the truths of the Word of God
and then Paul was ready to go into the world and preach Jesus on the missionary
journeys He took him on.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: “Sanctify Christ
as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who
asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness
and reverence (1 Peter 3:15).”
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust that the Lord will give me
opportunities to tell others of how to be saved and have a new life in Christ.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
Question: “Fourfold” (Luke 19:8).
Today’s Bible
question: “How does Jesus sum up his
reference to the greatness of John the Baptist?”
Answer in our next SD.
4/5/2018 9:59 AM
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