PT-2 The Courage of Conviction Knows Its Purpose (Acts 21:1-3)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/25/2018 10:50 AM

My Worship Time                            Focus:  PT-2 The Courage of Conviction Knows Its Purpose

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 21:1-3

            Message of the verses:  “1 When we had parted from them and had set sail, we ran a straight course to Cos and the next day to Rhodes and from there to Patara; 2 and having found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail. 3 When we came in sight of Cyprus, leaving it on the left, we kept sailing to Syria and landed at Tyre; for there the ship was to unload its cargo.”

            I have mentioned before that Luke does write well about their sea adventures, and we can see that in the verses we are looking at.  John MacArthur writes “Each of the ports represents a day’s voyage; the ship sailed during the day and anchored in each port for the night.”

            When one looks at the modern equipment that ships have now and was certainly not available back when Paul was sailing on ships one can understand why these ships stopped at night.

            I am afraid that this SD will not be very long as I thought that it would be for all we can do now is take a look at the different ports of call that Paul and his missionary group traveled, but one thing we can look at is that in a similar way that Jesus knew that He had to be in Jerusalem for Passover, which is when He would give up His life for us, Paul too wanted to get to Jerusalem too.  John MacArthur writes “This simple recounting of Paul’s travels portrays a man driven to fulfill the priority of meeting the needs of the poor and unifying the church.  It shows that the strength of this courage stemmed from devotion to obey what he knew were divine priorities.”

            A little more information about Paul trying to unite the church is that as we read through some of Paul’s letters we see that he was taking a collection from the different Gentile churches in order to help the church at Jerusalem as there had been an extensive famine going on there.  Paul was concerned about whether or not the Jewish church at Jerusalem would even take funds from the Gentile churches.  “30 Now I urge you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, 31 that I may be rescued from those who are disobedient in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may prove acceptable to the saints; 32 so that I may come to you in joy by the will of God and find refreshing rest in your company. 33 Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.”  This was Paul asking the Romans to pray for him as he was going to Jerusalem to bring the money to the Jerusalem church and he wanted them to pray for him to accomplish this.  The words in verse 30 “to strive together” is a very powerful Greek word “sunagonizomai” and it is also used in John’s gospel and is translated as fighting, so Paul wanted the Romans to fight together with him in prayer. 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have to have a similar mind set as I live my life for the Lord, making sure that I do what He has planned for me to do.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord as I continue to study for my Sunday school lesson that it will be something that the Spirit of God can use to benefit those who are there.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Balak” (Numbers 22:4-6).

Today’s Bible question:  “According to tradition, who authored First Kings?”

Answer in our next SD.

7/25/2018 11:13 AM