SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/26/2018
10:29 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
The Courage of Conviction Cannot Be
Diverted
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 21:4-6
Message of the
verses: “4 After looking up the
disciples, we stayed there seven days; and they kept telling Paul through the
Spirit not to set foot in Jerusalem. 5 When our days there were ended, we left
and started on our journey, while they all, with wives and children, escorted
us until we were out of the city. After kneeling down on the beach and praying,
we said farewell to one another. 6 Then we went on board the ship, and they
returned home again.”
As we begin to look at verse four we learn that Paul had
to look up the disciples that were in Tyre as it seems that he was not really
familiar with them. It is ironic how
this church began as it probably began when believers left Jerusalem after the
martyrdom of Stephen, and the ironic part of it is that Paul was involved in
Stephen’s murder. Well we know that God
uses all things to work together for our God and for His glory and this is a
wonderful example of that.
Paul and his companions stayed with these believers for
seven days and it seems like it was a wonderful time of fellowship that they
had, as they began a wonderful new friendship in the Lord. I have been in places with believers that
spoke another language and yet I could tell that they were believers, and so it
is not surprising to me that Paul and his companions began a wonderful new
relationship with these believers in Tyre.
I have to believe that these believers knew what Paul had done for the
Lord after he became a believer, and so through Jesus Christ they were able to
forgive him for his part in the persecution that went on that caused them to
move from Jerusalem.
John MacArthur writes “The Bible quite candidly reveals
the shortcomings of even the greatest men of God. Scripture presents the failings, as well as
the triumphs, of men such as Noah, Abraham, Jacob, David, Peter, John, and the
rest of the apostles. Paul was no more
immune to failure than they were; in fact, Luke has already recorded Paul’s
quarrel with Barnabas over John Mark (15:37-39). That Paul was not disobedient on this
occasion, however, is evident from several considerations.” I will try and summarize the five points that
MacArthur brings up showing that Paul was not disobedient in wanting to go to
Jerusalem as some have thought.
1.
As we look at the phrase “through the Spirit”
it is inconclusive as it merely means that someone spoke as from a spiritual
gift of prophecy. Paul said the
following in 1 Corinthians 14:29 “Let two or three prophets speak, and let the
others pass judgment.” Paul is saying that
not all prophecies that are made are true.
2.
As we have
followed Paul’s life in the book of Acts we have learned that he is very
sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
We have seen him not go into certain places or regions because he was
stopped by the Holy Spirit in going there, so Paul followed the leading of the
Spirit.
3.
The Holy Spirit
had never stopped him from going to Jerusalem in the past as he went there a
number of times as he was talking with the other apostles. 22 "And now, behold, bound in spirit, I am
on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, 23 except that the Holy Spirit solemnly
testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me (Acts
20:22-23).”
4.
24 "But I do not consider my life of any
account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry
which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the
grace of God (Acts 20:24).” How could
the Holy Spirit forbid Paul from doing what the Lord Jesus Christ had commanded
him to? Let us look at Acts 19:21 “21
Now after these things were finished, Paul purposed in the spirit to go to
Jerusalem after he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, saying, "After
I have been there, I must also see Rome.’”
I have to go back to right after Paul was saved, and was blind and the
Holy Spirit sent Ananias to heal Paul, that is to make him see again. The Lord told Ananias that Paul would suffer
much for the cause of Christ.
5.
One can search
the Scriptures to find that Paul had sinned by going to Jerusalem at this time
and you will not find out that he did.
Paul
had been warned and will continue to warn not to go there, but Paul went to
Jerusalem because the Lord wanted him there.
I have to say after the trouble settled down once he got there and was
put in prison, Paul had time to write many parts of the New Testament and to
actually take some time to relax and use his ministry skills that the Lord had
given him to write letters to different churches he had visited, and I have to
believe that he wrote more letters that are not found in the Scriptures to help
encourage other churches and believers.
We
see that after the week of ministry that Paul and his companions left Tyre,
headed to Jerusalem. Luke tells us that
his new friends in the Lord knelt down on the beach and they had a short prayer
meeting before Paul left.
I
have to relate a story about a man, a Pastor in Africa who knew that
persecution had killed some of his fellow Pastors, and he went back to the
place where they were and was captured and buried alive for the cause of
Christ. He did not have to go back, but
he did because he felt that the Lord wanted him to do so. Paul was going to Jerusalem because he knew that
was what the Lord wanted him to do.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: Trust the Lord to do things that He is
leading me to do even though others don’t think that is what I should be doing.
My
Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord as He leads my life through
the power of the Holy Spirit, through the reading of His Word, and through the
preaching of His Word.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question: “Jeremiah.”
Today’s Bible question: “When
did the widow’s oil stop increasing?”
Answer in our Next SD.
7/26/2018 11:09 AM
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