SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/26/2018
3:42 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-1 “Exhortation”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 20:1a,
2b
Message of the
verses: “And after the uproar had
ceased, Paul sent for the disciples and when he had exhorted them and taken his
leave of them…and had given them much exhortation.”
One of the many reasons that I like John MacArthur’s
commentaries is because many times he puts the meaning of the key words that
are found in the passages that he is going over, and in this case he writes the
following: “The word thorubos (‘uproar’) is a fitting
descriptive for those tumultuous events sparked by Demetrius the
silversmith. Matthew used it to describe
the disturbance that took place during Pilate’s trial of Jesus (Matt.
27:24). Luke used it later in Acts to
describe the riot that broke out when Paul visited the temple in Jerusalem
(Acts 21:34). In all three instances the
word describes an uncontrollable, hysterical mob.”
What we read in these two partial verses shows how much
Paul truly loved the church. After the
riot it is probably good to say that most people would have just left and gone
on to their next destination, but not Paul as before he could leave Ephesus he
had “sent for the disciples and exhorted them” for one last time. A little later on when we get to Acts
20:29-31 we will see the reason that Paul wanted to exhort these Ephesian
rulers of this church: “29 “I know that
after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock;
30 and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to
draw away the disciples after them. 31 “Therefore be on the alert, remembering
that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each
one with tears.” When we studied the
book of Revelation and looked at the different churches in chapters 2-3 Ephesus
was the first church we looked at. One
of the things we studied about this church was to look at its history and we
found out that if you visit modern day Turkey which is where Ephesus is we
found out that it is now in ruins, so Paul’s fears were realized. One of the reasons that he was speaking to
the leaders of this church was because they probably were wondering if there
would be more riots. MacArthur adds “The
cure for both problems was instruction from and exhortation to follow God’s
Word. Only after charging the Ephesian
believers did Paul take ‘his leave of them’ to begin his planned trip to
Jerusalem via Macedonia and Achaia (cf. 19:21).”
We have been learning about Paul’s plans to get to
Jerusalem and we have learned that Paul spent three years there in Ephesus
growing this church. We know about his
great love for all of the churches, but think about him being there for three
years and how much he had grown to love them during that time. Paul is coming to the end of his third
missionary journey, one that had brought about much trouble for him and those
who were with him, and as mentioned he wanted to get to Jerusalem. There is a period of time after Paul is
released from Rome in his first prison experience that he may have gone to see
these churches in Asia once again, but we don’t know that for sure and surely
Paul did not know at that time what he would be doing after his prison sentence
in Rome, for he would not really known at this time that he would even be going
to prison, but Paul learned to take one day at a time, trusting the Lord for
the direction that he should be following.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: My SD was a bit
late do to the fact that I did not sleep well last night and then I went to
visit my sister, who by the way reads my spiritual diaries each day, as she has
some surgery this morning. Praise the
Lord that everything went well with that and I trust that here healing will
also go well too as I continue to pray for that.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord for the healing of my sister
after surgery, and for the confusion to leave my 100+ year old father in law.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Sarah” (Genesis 12:10-20).
Today’s Bible
question: “Who wrote the book of
Revelation?”
Answer in our next SD.
6/26/2018 4:11 PM
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