Intro to Acts 18:18-19:7

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/31/2018 10:37 AM

My Worship Time                                                                         Focus:  Intro to Acts 18:18-19:7

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 18:18-19:7

            Message of the verses:  “18 Paul, having remained many days longer, took leave of the brethren and put out to sea for Syria, and with him were Priscilla and Aquila. In Cenchrea he had his hair cut, for he was keeping a vow. 19 They came to Ephesus, and he left them there. Now he himself entered the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. 20 When they asked him to stay for a longer time, he did not consent, 21 but taking leave of them and saying, "I will return to you again if God wills," he set sail from Ephesus. 22 When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church, and went down to Antioch. 23 And having spent some time there, he left and passed successively through the Galatian region and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples. 24 Now a Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus; and he was mighty in the Scriptures. 25 This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, being acquainted only with the baptism of John; 26 and he began to speak out boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. 27 And when he wanted to go across to Achaia, the brethren encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him; and when he had arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace, 28 for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. 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." 4 Paul said, "John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus." 5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying. 7 There were in all about twelve men.”

            We can see in this section of Scripture two things that show us that it took time for the new believers to understand more completely what really had happened to them.  I can surely relate to this as I have mentioned in earlier SD’s that I was not saved in a church service, but in a restaurant that was famous for hot dogs and beer, where a man wrote on a napkin four spiritual laws.  It took me a long time to understand the truths of what actually happened to me when I was saved, and so that is true with those who we see written about in this section of Scripture.  I want to mention that the book of Hebrews contains the theology of the transition period from the Old Testament to the New Testament.   What I am saying is that many in the early church had difficulties from going from the truths of the Old Testament Laws and ceremonies to what the New Testament teaches.  Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are the only things that we as believers are to participate in and they are called ordinances.  The Holy Spirit lives within us and therefore we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, so there is no need to have a building which was called the temple found in the Old Testament.  All of these things are found in the book of Hebrews as the people who the author was writing to when he penned Hebrews were thinking of going back to Judaism, which he was encouraging them not to.

            So what we will see in this section is the difficulties of transforming from Judaism to the church age, something even the apostles had difficulty of shedding the old demands and patterns and making the transition. 

            John MacArthur writes the following in the last paragraph of his introduction:  “The text of Acts 18:18-19:7 is linked together by three examples of those caught up in this transition from the Old to the New Covenant:  Paul, Apollos, and the twelve Old Testament saints.”  That is the outline we will follow as we begin in our next SD to look at verses 18-23 which speaks of Paul in Transition.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have changed how I am studying the Bible at the beginning of this year, wanting to read just through the gospels as many times as I can this year by reading one chapter of the gospels each day, and then reading one Psalm each day, which I completed a couple of days ago.  I thought it would be good to begin reading my older Spiritual Diaries as I went through the book of Psalms and in today’s study of Psalm 1:3 I was reading about how I as a believer are to produce fruit as I study the Word of God, fruit for others and I received a blessing in my heart knowing that some of the things that I am learning I am sharing with people around this world, and for that I am humbled, and thankful.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  By the grace of God I desire to have the Holy Spirit produce fruit in my life as I study and share what I study each day.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “They became sweet” (Exodus 15:25).

Today’s Bible question:  “Why does one ask and receive not?”  (What is the reason one does not receive what he asks for.)  (Hint:  look at the book of James.)

Answer in our next SD.

5/31/2018 11:06 AM  

The Frustration of Paul's Enemies (Acts 18:12-17)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/30/2018 9:04 AM

My Worship Time                                                              Focus:  The Frustration of His Enemies

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Acts 18:12-17

            Message of the verses:  “12 But while Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgment seat, 13  saying, "This man persuades men to worship God contrary to the law." 14 But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, "If it were a matter of wrong or of vicious crime, O Jews, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you; 15 but if there are questions about words and names and your own law, look after it yourselves; I am unwilling to be a judge of these matters." 16 And he drove them away from the judgment seat. 17 And they all took hold of Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and began beating him in front of the judgment seat. But Gallio was not concerned about any of these things.”

            As we remember from our last SD which spoke of God giving peace to Paul as he preached the gospel in Corinth we see that God is totally in charge, and so as we look at the frustrations of Paul’s enemies, who were at this time the Jews, we see according to these verse that they could do nothing about this.  The preaching of the Gospel is very offensive to those who are not saved because the preaching of the gospel shows people that they are sinners and that is what is so offensive to them.  The following is what Jesus said to His disciples on the very night when He would go to the cross, and in this section of John 16 we see what the Spirit of God does in His ministry then and is still doing today.  “7 "But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. 8  "And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; 9  concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10  and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; 11  and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.”  What you see in these verses is what was happening to people at Corinth as the gospel was being preached.  As one goes back through the gospel of John, which we have already studied we see how the Pharisees reacted to the Person and the Preaching of Jesus Christ.  They hated both His preaching and Him, and that is what is going on in our verses for today.  Look again at John 16:10 where we read “and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me,” and this tells us that because Jesus is now in heaven that people hate His followers because He is in heaven.  In our study of Revelation we also see this happening to the tribulation believers as Satan could not get to Jesus because He was in heaven so he takes it out on the believers through the works of the Antichrist.  My point in all of this is that people hate the works of God, the preaching of the gospel, but when God has the door opened so that His people can be saved, His enemies can do little.

            I have a couple of quotes explaining about Gallio:  “Gallio was the brother of Seneca, the famed Roman philosopher and tutor of Nero.  Seneca described his brother as ‘an intelligent person who hated flattery, and was blessed with an ‘unaffectedly pleasant personality.’  He was proconsul of Achaia from July, A. D. 51 to June A. D. 52.  Luke’s use of the title proconsul is another important testimony to his painstaking accuracy as an historian, as Richard N. Longenecker explains:

‘That Luke distinguishes correctly between senatorial and imperial provinces and has the former governed by a proconsul on behalf of the senate and the later governed by a propraetor representing the emperor says much for his accuracy, for the status of provinces changed with the times.  Achaia was a senatorial province from 27 B. C.  to A. D. 15 and then again from A. D. 44 onwards…It was therefore governed by a proconsul…Macedonia, however was an imperial province, and therefore Luke rightly called the magistrates at Philippi praetors.’

            As we look at the rest of our verses we see that the Jews were hoping to capitalize on Gallio’s inexperienced authority.  Well as we can see this did not happen and I believe it was because of the promise that God gave to Paul about experiencing peace as he stayed in Corinth preaching the gospel. 

            I believe that the rest of these verses from Acts 18 that we are looking at today are pretty self explanatory and so I only want to make a comment on the term “judgment seat.”  We know that when all believers go to heaven through the Rapture either as dead or alive that later on during the tribulation period that is going on, on planet earth that we will all stand before the “Judgment Seat of Christ.”  My point here is that during the time when the New Testament was written there were “judgment seats” as seen here in our text for today.

            At this point I want to quote the past short paragraphs from John MacArthur’s commentary as he wraps us this section on the first 17 verses of Acts chapter 18.

            “God strengthened Paul through friends, converts, His own presence, and through the discomfiture of Paul’s enemies.  He was faithful to His promise recorded in Isaiah 40:29-31:

‘29 He gives strength to the weary, And to him who lacks might He increases power. 30 Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly, 31 Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.’

“That same comfort and encouragement is available to all who faithfully serve our Lord.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I was speaking to a lady whom I have known since she was in kindergarten about a very difficult situation that she and her rather large family is going through now, and my prayer for her is that she will find the same strength that God had given to Paul in this section of Acts chapter eighteen we have been looking at for these last few days.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To continue to pray for this lady’s son along with our neighbor across the back who is dying of cancer and who as far as I know does not know the Lord.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “120 Years.”

Today’s Bible question:  “What happened to the waters of Marah when Moses cast tree into them?”

Answer in our next SD.

5/30/2018 9:49 AM  

The Fellowship of God (Acts 18:9-11)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/29/2018 8:27 AM

My Worship Time                                                                           Focus:  The Fellowship of God

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 18:9-11

            Message of the verses:  “9 And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, "Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent; 10 for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city." 11 And he settled there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.”

            When we began this section I had made a comment that the Lord was going to give Paul some rest after such difficult times, times when he had been run out of towns just when he began to get a church together, but persecution came about and he then had to flee, finally to Athens where after preaching there were only a few that had accepted Christ.  Paul must have been down and disappointed, but now as we see in our verses for today the Lord assures him that he will be able to stay put for a while in Corinth, which was a place where he needed to be for a while because of the kind of city this was.

            John MacArthur points out that the vision that Paul received in verse nine is one of six visions that are recorded in the book of Acts.  They are found in Acts 9:12; 16:9-10; 22:17-18; 23:11; 27:23-24, along with the one found in 18:9.

            MacArthur points out that this supernatural vision provided four reasons for Paul not to give up proclaiming the gospel in that city.  We will look at these four reasons as we continue looking at these three verses.

            First of all we see that God commanded it specifically when we read in the last part of verse nine “but go on speaking.”

            Second we see that God reminded Paul in verse ten “for I am with you” something that I am sure that Paul knew.  I realize that there are times in my prayer life and in the prayer lives of others to ask God to be with me, and yet we know that as a believer that the Holy Spirit is living in us and is always with us, and yet I suppose there are times when we need assurance to this fact and that is why we pray this way.  Another reason to pray this way could be that we truly need God in a specific way in our lives and so we ask that God would be with us in this specific way as we go through a difficult situation.  Paul was familiar with what happened to Joshua as he was about to take over the ministry of Moses, and as we think about that for a moment we know that this must have been a very difficult time for Joshua, and I am sure that he needed a message from the Lord which he did receive in Joshua 1:5 and nine where we read:  “No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life.  Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you…Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous!  Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Paul knew with the powerful presence that was aiding his ministry that he could accomplish whatever it was that God wanted him to accomplish, something that Joshua found out too along with many other leaders from the nation of Israel.  We can read from his last letter which he wrote to Timothy these words “16  At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me; may it not be counted against them. 17 But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished, and that all the Gentiles might hear; and I was rescued out of the lion’s mouth. 18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.”  We will look at a few more verses that go along these lines:  “20  teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age’ (Matthew 28:20).”  “10 ’Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand’ (Isaiah 41:10).”  “17 “Now, gird up your loins and arise, and speak to them all which I command you. Do not be dismayed before them, or I will dismay you before them. 18 “Now behold, I have made you today as a fortified city and as a pillar of iron and as walls of bronze against the whole land, to the kings of Judah, to its princes, to its priests and to the people of the land. 19 “They will fight against you, but they will not overcome you, for I am with you to deliver you," declares the LORD (Jeremiah 1:17-19).”

            The third promise comes also from verse ten “no man will attack you in order to harm you.”  I am sure that this must have brought great comfort to Paul as he had been attacked many times in the past.  John MacArthur writes that “Those under God’s protection are invulnerable (cf. Isa. 54:17; Rev. 11:5).”  We will look now at these verses:  “17 “No weapon that is formed against you will prosper; And every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their vindication is from Me," declares the LORD.”  “5 And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies; so if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way.”

            The fourth and last reason that God gave Paul to keep preaching was that He had “many people in the city.”  Yes we are talking about God’s sovereignty here as God the Father is saying here that in eternity past I chose certain people who will belong to my Son, and my Son will come to earth to purchase these people who will become His bride, and I have many of them here in Corinth and I want you to keep on preaching so that the Holy Spirit will give an effectual call to these once they have heard the message of salvation.  John MacArthur writes “The truth of election expressed in verse 10 balances the truth of human responsibility in verse 6.  As always, Scripture presents those two inscrutable truths without attempting to harmonize them.  Both are true, and there is no real contradiction between them.”

            God had renewed Paul’s strength through these promises and so we read that Paul settled in Corinth for another year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.  This was a strategic location and Paul obeyed the call of the vision that God had given to him.  It was during that period writes MacArthur that “a certain incident provided the final source of God’s encouragement to Paul.”  The final source of encouragement that Paul had is what we will look at next as we wrap up this section from Acts 18:1-17 which is “The frustration of his enemies.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  How is it that I as a believer knew that it was of the Lord to write my Spiritual Diaries and then eventually put them onto my blogs?  I can assure you that it was not from a vision like Paul received here in verse nine.  However there were certain circumstances that did occur in my life as I was encouraged by my daughter and also a godly woman from our former church to do this and so one day, July 3, 2011 after finishing up my study of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles that I decided that I would take a step of faith and publish my Spiritual Diaries onto a blog.  I knew very little about how to do this, only that my daughter and son-in-law had published a blog on the events leading up to adopting their first son, and so I searched the internet and found how to do this not knowing what the Lord would do with this, but determined to follow through and publish what the Lord was teaching me as I studied His Word each day, or mostly each day.  I am thankful to the Lord for allowing me to do this, and continue to pray that the Lord will use these Spiritual Diaries to bring people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, to cause believers to grow in grace, to bring revival to believers who are in need of revival, to ask the Spirit of God to continue to send these Spiritual Diaries around the world each day, and also I pray that the Lord will use these Spiritual Diaries on the last day of the church age to bring thousands to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ in a similar way that He did on the first day of the church when thousands of people heard the message of the gospel in their own language.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To trust the Lord to answer my prayers concerning these Spiritual Diaries.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Timothy” (2 Timothy 1:1-5).

Today’s Bible question:  “How many years did Israel’s monarchy last before being divided into two kingdoms?”

Answer in our next SD.

5/29/2018 9:27 AM  

The Blessing of Converts (Acts 18:5b-8)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/28/2018 9:41 AM

My Worship Time                                                                       Focus:  The Blessing of Converts

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 18:5b-8

            Message of the verses:  “Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. 6 But when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his garments and said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles." 7 Then he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house was next to the synagogue. 8 Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his household, and many of the Corinthians when they heard were believing and being baptized.”

            One may wonder what it was that Paul was able to stop his leather making job in order to began to do what is described in these verses.  “9  and when I was present with you and was in need, I was not a burden to anyone; for when the brethren came from Macedonia they fully supplied my need, and in everything I kept myself from being a burden to you, and will continue to do so (2 Cor. 11:9).”  “15 You yourselves also know, Philippians, that at the first preaching of the gospel, after I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone (Phil. 4:15).”  I believe that these two verses answer this question.

            I truly like what the last part of verse five has to say that Paul began to devote himself completely to the word, and as a result of this then Paul was able once again, as he always did during his missionary journeys turned to the Jews to tell them about Christ.  The results were pretty much the same as it seems that not many, if any of the Jews, had an interest in what the OT Scriptures had to say about their Messiah, and so they rejected their Messiah in a similar way that those Jews in Jerusalem did when Christ came to them.

            Jesus spoke of throwing pears before swine’s in Matthew 7:6 “"Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”  Paul saw the futility in doing this and so he went to the Gentiles after he shook out his garment which was a traditional dramatic Jewish gesture of rejection.  Paul then Paul said to them “"Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean.” 

            We see then that Paul did go to the Gentiles “7 Then he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house was next to the synagogue. 8 Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his household, and many of the Corinthians when they heard were believing and being baptized.”  It was because of the rejection of the Gospel by the Jews that Paul went to the Gentiles and there he would find those ready to receive Christ as their Savior, thus this was a blessing to the Lord, to Paul and also to those who received Christ as their Savior.  We see in verse eight another blessing and that was many of the Corinthians believed and were then baptized, the step that people take after they believe.  Baptism pictures the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the word actually is a transliteration from the Greek, and the word means to dip, and so these people were not baptized by sprinkling them, but by putting them under the water and bringing them back up out of the water as the word indicates.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  First of all I am not sure why I forgot to do my Spiritual Diaries yesterday, but when I woke up this morning I realized that I did not do them and so I pick up where I left off on Saturday.   What spoke to my heart today was the last part of verse five “Paul began devoting himself completely to the word,” as this has been going on in my heart for a few days and not I realize that this is what I must do a better job at so that the Word of God can care for important issues that I am facing.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Do a better job in my study of God’s Word and then apply it to issues that I am facing.

Answer to our last Bible question:  “Bethlehem” (Ruth 1:19).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who was the son of Eunice and grandson of Lois?”

Answer in our next SD.

5/28/2018 10:06 AM

 

The Companionship of Friends (Acts 18:2-5a)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/26/2018 10:32 AM

My Worship Time                                                              Focus:  The Companionship of Friends

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 18:2-5a

            Message of the verses:  “2 And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, having recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. He came to them, 3 and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and they were working, for by trade they were tent-makers. 4 And he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. 5 But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia,”

            Paul leaves Athens and goes to Corinth.  His friends, according to verse five were in Macedonia.  For how long we do not really know, but what we do know is that Paul is pretty much along deprived of being with his friends for sometime there in Corinth.  Of course we know that God was with Paul as He is with each and every believer in the Person of the Holy Spirit, so Paul was not totally alone.

            God was gracious in hooking Paul up with a couple from Rome who had been kicked out of Rome because they were Jews.  We meet Aquila, and his wife Priscilla here, and they are both tent-makers which was what Paul did to help make a living.  When you hear of someone who has a ministry which includes being a “tent-maker” it is talking about a missionary who does not really have enough support and so he has to subsidize his earnings by working, probably working at a part-time job.  Paul did this while in Corinth in order to be able to have food on the table and a place to live so that he could continue to do what God desired him to do in preaching the gospel.

            John MacArthur writes about Priscilla:  “Because his wife Priscilla is named first four out of the six times the couple is mentioned, some have speculated that she was a Roman woman of higher social rank than Aquila.  More likely, she is mentioned first because she was the more prominent of the two in service to the church.  Paul always refers to her by her formal name, Prisca (Rom. 16:3, 1 Cor. 16:19; 2 Tim. 4:19), while Luke always uses the diminutive from Priscilla (cf. vv. 18, 26).”

            I think that because the Bible does not speak of their conversion that they were already believers when they left Rome, and so they would have that wonderful common bond with Paul as they both know Christ as their Savior.

            I wish to quote the last paragraph from John MacArthur’s commentary as it speaks of how wonderful God is and was to Paul at this discouraging time of his life. 

“The God of all comfort met the need of His discouraged servant for companionship not only by providing two new friends but also by bringing back two familiar ones.  The arrival of Silas and Timothy from Macedonia no doubt greatly encouraged him.  Although Acts does not record it, Silas and Timothy had apparently rejoined Paul at Athens as he intended (17:15).  From there he sent Timothy back to Thessalonica (1 Thess. 3:1-6).  Silas was also sent somewhere in Macedonia, since he, too, came to Corinth from that province.  He may have gone to Philippi (cf. Phil. 4:15; 2 Cor. 11:9), since Paul kept frequent communication at this time with his first European church.” 

            I wonder what Paul and his companions would have done if they had cell phones at that time.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful for the God of all comfort who gives me comfort whenever I am truly in need of it.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust the Lord to bring comfort to our neighbor who is dying of cancer, that she will be blessed by the card that I bought for her yesterday.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “John the Baptist” (John 1:15).

Today’s Bible question:  “To what town did Naomi and her daughter-in-law Ruth move when they left the land of Moab?”

Answer in our next SD.

5/26/2018 10:57 AM

PT-2 "Intro to Acts 18:1-17)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/25/2018 10:01 AM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-2 “Intro to Acts 18:1-17”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 18:1-17

            Message of the verses:  Please refer to the Spiritual Diary dated 05-24-18 to see the verses that go along with this SD.

            We continue to look at the introduction to this section in the book of Acts in our SD for today.  We have been discussing some of God’s servants, both from the OT and the NT who have gone through some difficult times as they served the Lord.  Paul certainly was in this group as he suffered much for the cause of Christ.  Paul left Athens and took the 53 mile walk to Corinth to continue to serve the Lord there in that very ungodly city.  In Paul’s day Corinth actually replaced Athens as the leading political and commercial center in Greece as nearly all traffic between northern and Southern Greece passed through Corinth.  John MacArthur writes “Because it was a 200-mile sail around the peninsula, some ships were put on rollers and pulled across the 4-mile bridge of land.  In A. D. 67 Nero began work on a canal, but one was not completed until 1893.” 

            Corinth was a city whose population was mobile, as many sailors lived there when they were not on the sea, and so not there much of the time.  It is because of this mobile population that Corinth was one of the most debauched cities of antiquity, “R. C. H. Lenski writes

‘Corinth was a wicked city even as larger cities of the empire went at this period.  The very term ‘Corinthian’ came to mean a profligate Korinthiazomai, ‘to Corinthianize, meant to practice whoredom; Korinthiastes = a whoremonger; Korinthia kore (girl) = a courtesan.’

            John MacArthur continues his description of Corinth “Towering some 1,500 feet above Corinth was the Acropolis, on top of which was the temple of Aphrodite, the goddess of love.  Each evening the temple’s one thousand priestesses, who were ritual prostitutes, would descend into the city to ply their trade.  In sharp contrast to the sedate (by comparison) intellectual and cultural center of Athens, Corinth was undeniably a pip-roaring town where ‘none by the tough could survive.’”

            Into this city Paul arrived and actually spent a considerable amount of time there, but as he entered the city I am sure that he had similar feelings about it as when he was in Athens.  Although the situation was different in each city, sin ran rampant in both cities.  We will now finish with a final quote from MacArthur’s introductory commentary in order to understand the outline that we will be following in the coming days.

            “But the ‘God of all comfort’ (2 Cor. 1:3), who ‘comforts the depressed’ (2 Cor. 7:6), did not leave Paul in his downtrodden condition.  He encouraged His struggling servant through four means:  the companionship of friends, the blessing of converts, the fellowship of God, and the frustration of his enemies.  These are the very blessings any depressed servant of the Lord can cling to for encouragement.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful that the Lord, through His Word, and through His servant Paul, gives a wonderful recipe for overcoming times of when I am depressed.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord as He deals with some trials in my life, that all will be done to bring glory to the Lord.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Jesus” (Matthew 1:21).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said, ‘He that comes after me is preferred before me; for He was before me’?”

Answer in our next SD.

5/25/2018 10:29 AM

PT-1 "Intro to Acts 18:1-17"

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/24/2018 9:31 AM

My Worship Time                                                                      Focus:  PT-1 Intro to Acts 18:1-17

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 18:1-17

            Message of the verses:  “1 After these things he left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, having recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. He came to them, 3 and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and they were working, for by trade they were tent-makers. 4 And he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. 5 But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. 6 But when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his garments and said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles."7 Then he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house was next to the synagogue. 8 Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his household, and many of the Corinthians when they heard were believing and being baptized. 9  And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, "Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent; 10 for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city." 11 And he settled there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. 12 But while Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgment seat, 13 saying, "This man persuades men to worship God contrary to the law." 14 But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, "If it were a matter of wrong or of vicious crime, O Jews, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you; 15 but if there are questions about words and names and your own law, look after it yourselves; I am unwilling to be a judge of these matters." 16 And he drove them away from the judgment seat. 17 And they all took hold of Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and began beating him in front of the judgment seat. But Gallio was not concerned about any of these things.”

            John MacArthur entitles this section from the book of Acts “Encouraging the Servant of God,” and at first I was wondering about that title, but then after reading this section again I figured out that he was talking about God giving encouragement to Paul, as this was a time in Paul’s life where there was little to know persecution for him.  Paul surely needed a time when he could just live in a place and teach the Word of God to those that the Lord had given to him to preach to.  I am sure from reading the Scriptures that are about Paul that he went through times of discouragement.  Charles Spurgeon talks about the fact that it is a little appreciated truth about those in ministry, which is Pastors and missionaries who become discouraged:

 “goo men are promised tribulation in this world, and ministers may expect a larger share than others, that they may learn sympathy with the Lord’s suffering people, and so may be fitting shepherds of an ailing flock.  (“The Minister’s Fainting Fits,” in Lectures to m Students: First Series [reprint; Grand Rapids:  Baker, 1980], 168).”

Let us take a moment to read about the problems that Moses wrote about when it comes to despair in Numbers 11:11-15:

11 So Moses said to the LORD, "Why have You been so hard on Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You have laid the burden of all this people on me? 12 “Was it I who conceived all this people? Was it I who brought them forth, that You should say to me, ’Carry them in your bosom as a nurse carries a nursing infant, to the land which You swore to their fathers’? 13 “Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me, saying, ’Give us meat that we may eat!’ 14 “I alone am not able to carry all this people, because it is too burdensome for me. 15 “So if You are going to deal thus with me, please kill me at once, if I have found favor in Your sight, and do not let me see my wretchedness."”

            Moses was not the only servant of God to express these kinds of things to the Lord as we next look at what Joshua said after Israel’s defeat at AI.  “7 Joshua said, "Alas, O Lord GOD, why did You ever bring this people over the Jordan, only to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? If only we had been willing to dwell beyond the Jordan! (Jos. 7:7).”  Then there is another one that we can look at and that is one that is familiar to me.  Elijah had a great victory over the prophets of Baal, as he murdered many of them because of what they were doing to Israel, but afterwards he became distressed and ran away from the woman Jezebel. You can read about that incident in 1 Kings 18:20 and following.  It got so bad for Elijah after he ran off into the wilderness that we read in 1 Kings 19:4 “But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree; and he requested for himself that he might die, and said, "It is enough; now, O LORD, take my life, for I am not better than my fathers."”  There are other examples in the Old Testament like Hezekiah who after facing the prospect of death pleaded with the Lord to allow him to live, which the Lord did for him as he added another 15 years to his life.  I suppose the classic OT story comes from the book of Job as he went through some very difficult situations.

            I will end this first part of this introduction to these verses in Acts by quoting a rather long paragraph from MacArthur’s introductory comments on this section in Acts 18.

“Nor did the apostle Paul escape the throes of discouragement.  The opening of Acts 18 finds him at a low point in his grueling ministry.  His second missionary journey had been arduous.  After traveling through Asia Minor ‘strengthening the churches’ (Acts 15:41), he crossed the Aegean Sea to the Greek mainland.  His healing of a demon possessed girl in Philippi sparked a riot, and he and Silas had been beaten and thrown into prison.  After being released following a devastating earthquake, he was forced to leave the city (16:39-40).  From there he went to Thessalonica, where his ministry enjoyed great success (17:4).  Persecution forced him to flee to Berea (17:10), where many also responded to his preaching and teaching (17:12).  When persecution followed him there from Thessalonica, Paul was again forced to escape danger (17:4).  He arrived alone in the great city of Athens, where his brilliant speech in defense of Christianity had largely been ignored (17:19-32).  He then ‘left Athens and went to Corinth,’ a fifty-three mile walk.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It was good to better understand that discouragement can be used by the Lord in a good way, to be able to help others if I am willing to do so.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to see me through some discouragements of my own, and use them to bring glory to the Lord.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Hypocrisy” (Luke 12:2).

Today’s Bible question:  “What was the human name given to Christ?”

Answer in our next SD.

5/24/2018 10:08 AM

Recognizing What God has Said (Acts 17:30-31)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/23/2018 9:43 AM

My Worship Time                                                            Focus:  Recognizing What God has Said

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 17:30-31

            Message of the verses:  “30 "Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, 31 because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead."”

            Just a note that I will try and look at the last verses from Acts 17 after I comment on verses 30-31. 

            We have been looking at the fact that God does exist, and also looking at the understanding of who He is, and yet this will not lead anyone to a saving knowledge which was what Paul was trying to do with these Greek philosophers as they listen to him talk.  James said the following in his book “Jas 2:19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.”  James is saying that if people just believe that God does exist then if that is all you believe then you are no better off than the demons who believe the same thing. 

            Once the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world this brought about a change in God’s dealing with humanity.  Before Christ came people were saved by looking forward to the coming of God’s Messiah.  Paul writes “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance,” “that is, He didn’t always intervene with special judgment (thought sin always caused consequences) against the nations who did not know Him.  But ‘God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent.’  Natural revelation is insufficient to save, and merely serves to draw men to God.”  (MacArthur)  We have read in Acts 4:12 “"And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved."”  This was God’s plan all along, that is to send His Son into the world to pay the price for sin, and this of course is Paul’s main point to these men.

            Paul goes on to say that there is coming a day in which God will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed.  We know that Paul is talking about the Lord Jesus Christ.  Jesus said the following in John 5:22-27,

“22 “For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, 23 so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. 24  "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. 25  "Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26 "For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; 27  and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man.”

            In John 5:25 we see that Jesus has the power to raise His children from the dead, and Paul speaks of something similar, that is that God has raised Jesus Christ from the dead, and that resurrection of Christ from the dead gives us proof that God was satisfied with what Christ did on the cross.

            People who heard of someone being raised from the dead react in ways that mostly shows that they do not believe that this happened, and yet there is more proof that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, that is written proof in history past than written proof that Julius Caesar lived, and not many people have any problem believing that Julius Caesar lived.

            “32 Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer, but others said, "We shall hear you again concerning this." 33 So Paul went out of their midst. 34 But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them (Acts 17:32-34).”  This, to me, is a sad commentary, and yet we read that there were some who did believe.  I have to believe that Paul was somewhat disappointed that more people did not believe, and yet if only a few did believe then his unplanned trip to Athens was worth it.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have told many people about how they can be saved from their sins and have eternal life through Jesus Christ, and many people have not believed me.  I am very disappointed when this happens, and yet I have to keep on telling others when God brings them into my life.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  “but 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).”

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “It had not rained for three years” (1 Kings 18:1-2).

Today’s Bible question:  “What is the leaven of the Pharisees?”

Answer in our next SD.

5/23/2018 10:15 AM

God is the Revealer (Acts 17:27-29)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/22/2018 10:38 AM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  God is the Revealer

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 17:27-29

            Message of the verses:  “27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ’For we also are His children.’ 29 "Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man.”

            We have been looking at sever sub-points under the main point of “Recognizing who God Is,” and have seen that God’s providential activity as creator, ruler, giver, and controller should move men to see Him.  God has revealed Himself in His creation as written about in Psalm 19, and this should cause men to look to the stars in the sky and realize that they were all created by God, and He did this to bring glory to Himself, but He also did it so that men when they look up at the stars in the sky that they would think of God.  Another way men should recognize God is through their conscience, as the human conscience is very powerful if you follow it in the right way.  Paul writes in Romans 2:14-15 “14  For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, 15 in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them,.”  Now going back for a moment to look at the physical world again it leaves all men without excuse according to Romans 1:18 and following.  Just a short not on the beginnings of the book of Romans, and that is that Paul was building a case showing that all men are born sinners and it takes him a while to write “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” which is Romans 3:23.  Paul proves his case against those who do not believe they are sinners, which is the first step for a person to come to know Christ as their Savior.  One has to know that they are a sinner that they are lost without hope in order to come to Christ for salvation.  Paul actually expressed this to those Greeks that he was talking to when he said of God that “He is not far from each one of us.”  MacArthur adds “Even those who never heard the gospel are still accountable to God for failing to live up to natural revelation.  Had they done so, God would have brought them the special revelation they needed to be saved.”  This goes along with the story that I have told in earlier SD’s when a woman who lived in a small village in Cambodia was under attack from the Communists as they were about to kill the entire village, having them dig their own graves before they were about to shoot all of them.  She had heard of Jesus, though not knowing His name, and so she cried out to the God who died on the cross just before she an all of here village people were to be killed.  What happened was a miracle in that all who were to do them harm left without shooting those around the hole that the dug.  A few years latter some missionaries came to that village and the first thing that this woman asked them was “What took you so long to get here.”  She only had a little knowledge, and yet she used that little knowledge to cry out to God and then God gave her more knowledge and many people in that village were saved and not killed.

            As we continue in our verses we can say that the Greeks certainly could not plead ignorance as Paul speaks of some of their poets who acknowledged the revelation of God in nature, even though the wrongly saw it as a revelation of their false gods.  MacArthur adds “The Cretan poet Epimenides noted that ‘in Him we live and move and exist,’ while Artus from Paul’s home region of Cilicia, added, ‘For we also are His offspring.’  Those quotes illustrate the universal revelation of God as creator, ruler, and sustainer.  While Paul could easily have documented those truths from the Old Testament, he chose instead illustrations familiar to his pagan audience, who were unfamiliar with Scriptures.” 

            Paul used these poets to show his audience that man is “the offspring of God,” and so it would be foolish of them “to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man.”  Since God created man he surely must be more than a mere man-made idol. 

            MacArthur concludes “The best starting point for evangelizing pagans with no knowledge of the Scripture is to explain the power and Person behind the creation.  Satan’s intention of evolution cuts off that path of reason that leads to God.”  To that I totally agree with, as evolution has caused much trouble for those in the world, those smart enough to realize that evolution is impossible.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles.”

Today’s Bible question:  “What weather conditions caused a famine in Samaria during the time of Ahab?”

Answer in our next SD.

5/22/2018 11:09 AM

           

God Controls all Things (Acts 17:26)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/21/2018 10:29 AM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  God is the Controller

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 17:26

            Message of the verses:  “26 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,”

            The first thing that I want to do is to pay tribute to my mother who was born on this date back in 1922, and she died in July of 2012 a bit over ninety years old.  I have to say that I miss her and look forward to one day seeing here when the Rapture of the Church comes.

            I also want to say that this will be a rather short SD, and I suppose those who read these will be happy about that.  I follow the outline that is in John MacArthur’s commentaries and this happens to be a short one.

            I want to also say that people in today’s world who don’t know the Lord, and even some who do know the Lord will have a difficult time with what Paul is saying in this verse, especially those who believe in evolution.  Paul states that “from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth.”  That one man of course was Adam and if it were not for sin, the sin he committed things on this earth would be perfect, but that is not the case as we can see.  Adam and Eve had children and when their children got older they married each other and had other children and so on.  The same was true after the flood when there were only eight people on the Ark and so Noah’s sons and daughter-in-laws had children who married either their sisters and brothers or their cousins.  How could this happen and not have problems with their children like would happen today if a brother had children with his sister.  The answer is what we could call de-evolution.  What is de-evolution?  Well evolution teaches that things are going up and getting better, while de-evolution teaches the opposite, things are getting worse off.  The problem is in the gene pool.  It was during the time when Moses was leading the people out of Egypt and then giving the law to them that God instructed Moses to not have people marry in their immediate family up to a distant cousin.  “6 ’None of you shall approach any blood relative of his to uncover nakedness; I am the LORD (Lev. 18:6).”  As you look at the following verses you will see more about this subject.  If it were not for sin then the gene-pool would not be a problem, but because of de-evolution things continue to get worse off.

            John MacArthur writes the following on verse 26:  “God is not only the sovereign ruler of the universe but also the controller of the affairs and destinies of men and nations, Paul declares that  He made ‘from one’ (Adam) ‘every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth.’  That statement was a blow to the national pride of the Greeks, who scornfully referred to non-Greeks as ‘barbarians.’  All men are equal, because all were created by God.  He ‘determined their appointed times;’ the rise and fall of nations and empires are in His hands (cf. Dan. 2:36 ff.; Luke 21:24).  God also set ‘the boundaries of their habitation,’ placing certain nations in specific geographical locations (Deut. 32:8) and determining the extent of their conquests (cf. Isa. 10:12-15).”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  By learning and better understanding the attributes of God, one has no problems in understanding verses like this from the Word of God.  “My God is so big, so strong and so mighty, there’s nothing my God cannot do” is what the children sing.  Too bad when they get older they forget the truth of this song.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to trust the Lord as He, through His Spirit, and His Word led me each day.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Cornelius” (Acts. 10:1).

Today’s Bible question:  “Which two books tells of David as a king?”

Answer in our next SD.

5/21/2018 10:57 AM