SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/19/2018
1:36 PM
My Worship Time Focus: The
Culmination of Paul’s Testimony
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts
26:19-23
Message of the verses: “19 "So, King
Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision, 20 but kept
declaring both to those of Damascus first, and also at Jerusalem and
then throughout all the region of Judea, and even to the
Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate
to repentance. 21 “For this reason some Jews seized me in the temple and
tried to put me to death. 22 "So, having obtained help from God, I stand
to this day testifying both to small and great, stating nothing but what the
Prophets and Moses said was going to take place; 23 that the Christ was to
suffer, and that by reason of His resurrection from the dead He
would be the first to proclaim light both to the Jewish people and to
the Gentiles."”
In
today’s SD we come to the end of Paul’s testimony, and I believe that he would
have kept going but as we will see in our next SD the king stopped him, for
reasons that perhaps could have been because he was uncomfortable with the
truth that Paul was telling him.
We
begin looking at verse 19 which tells us that Paul “did not prove disobedient
to the heavenly vision.” When it comes
to salvation and also ministry they come from a direct call from the Lord. I remember listening to a sermon by John
MacArthur telling how he was not willing to accept the call to ministry that
came from the Holy Spirit. He got into
an automobile accident where he was thrown out of the car and slid on his
backside for around 100 yards, and while he was sliding down the road he
remembers telling the Lord that he would accept the call to go into ministry,
and as they say the rest is history.
Obedience accompanies true salvation as seen in Romans 6:16 “Do you not
know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for
obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in
death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?” Let us also look at 1 Peter 1:14 “As obedient
children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in
your ignorance.”
In
expressing his obedience in his call to ministry Paul was “declaring both to
those of Damascus first, and also at Jerusalem and then
throughout all the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that they
should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance.” Now as we look at this previous sentence we
see that it was the sentence that summarizes Paul’s ministry, which began in
Damascus which is seen in Acts 9:20-22, and then spread to Jerusalem found in
Acts 9:26-29, and this influenced Judea, and then finally it extended “even to
the Gentiles,” something we have been studying for the last few months. Paul tells what he was preaching, something
that did not change “even to the Gentiles, that they should repent and
turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance.” The word in the Greek that is translated as repentance
means a changing of the mind. John
MacArthur writes “Paul’s use of epistrepho
(turn), which frequently describes sinners turning to God (Luke 1:16-17; Acts
9:35; 11:21; 14:15; 15:19; 2 Cor. 3:16; 1 Thess. 1:9; 1 Pet. 2:25), reinforces
that meaning. Those who truly ‘repent
and turn to God’ will perform ‘deeds appropriate to repentance’ (Matt. 3:8;
7:16, 20; James 2:18).”
21
“For this reason some Jews seized me in the temple and tried to put me
to death.” Paul is saying that the
preaching of the gospel is why the Jews seized him while in the temple and
wanted to put him to death. That was
what set all these things in motion and end up where they were when Paul was
speaking to Agrippa and the others presence there. While Paul was being beaten while in the
temple we read that he “obtained help from God,” something we all need, especially
in times when we are in trouble like what Paul was.
Paul
then tells his audience that “I stand to this day testifying both to small and
great, stating nothing but what the Prophets and Moses said was going to take
place; 23 that the Christ was to suffer, and that by reason of His
resurrection from the dead He would be the first to proclaim light both to the Jewish
people and to the Gentiles."” One thing
I want to explain from the use of the word “first” (protos) which means first in preeminence, and not chronology.
John
MacArthur concludes this section by writing “Paul’s testimony may be summarized
as follows. He was a devout, zealous Jew—even
to the extreme of persecuting Christians, whom he believed perverted
Judaism. Jesus Christ, whose appearance
to Paul proves His resurrection, sovereignly changed his life and called him
both to salvation and to the ministry.
Paul thereafter preached the gospel of grace to the Gentiles, thus
placing them on a spiritual par with the Jews.
Because of that, some jealous Jews tried to kill him, and that is why he
stood before Agrippa that day.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I am thankful for the effectual call to
salvation that was given to me by the Holy Spirit, and I am thankful for a call
to study and share what I study as I read the Bible, and also to teach in or
Sunday school class.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord to give us wisdom on what to
do when our lease is done on our car in 12 days.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question “Job.”
Today’s Bible question: “How many cattle did Pharaoh dream about?”
Answer in our next SD.
9/19/2018 2:11 PM
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