SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/1/2018
9:04 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Intro to
Acts 28:1-16
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 28:1-16
Message of the verses: “1 When they had
been brought safely through, then we found out that the island was called
Malta. 2 The natives showed us extraordinary kindness; for because of the rain
that had set in and because of the cold, they kindled a fire and received us
all. 3 But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire,
a viper came out because of the heat and fastened itself on his hand. 4 When
the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they began saying to
one another, "Undoubtedly this man is a murderer, and though he has been
saved from the sea, justice has not allowed him to live." 5 However he
shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no harm. 6 But they were
expecting that he was about to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after
they had waited a long time and had seen nothing unusual happen to him, they
changed their minds and began to say that he was a god. 7 Now in the
neighborhood of that place were lands
belonging to the leading man of the island, named Publius, who welcomed us and
entertained us courteously three days. 8 And it happened that the father of
Publius was lying in bed afflicted with recurrent fever and
dysentery; and Paul went in to see him and after he had prayed, he laid
his hands on him and healed him. 9 After this had happened, the rest of the
people on the island who had diseases were coming to him and getting cured. 10
They also honored us with many marks of respect; and when we were setting sail,
they supplied us with all we needed.
11 At the end of three months we set sail on an Alexandrian ship which
had wintered at the island, and which had the Twin Brothers for its figurehead.
12 After we put in at Syracuse, we stayed there for three days. 13 From there
we sailed around and arrived at Rhegium, and a day later a south wind sprang
up, and on the second day we came to Puteoli. 14 There we found some
brethren, and were invited to stay with them for seven days; and thus we came
to Rome. 15 And the brethren, when they heard about us, came from there as far
as the Market of Appius and Three Inns to meet us; and when Paul saw them, he
thanked God and took courage. 16 When we entered Rome, Paul was allowed to stay
by himself, with the soldier who was guarding him.
We have come to the last chapter in the
book of Acts which we began on June 21, 2017.
It has been a wonderful study as we have basically seen how the Spirit
of God began the church of Jesus Christ, as the gospel was spread from
Jerusalem, to Judah, and then into Samaria, and finally around the Gentile
world. In today’s introduction to the
first sixteen verses of Acts 28 we see a blessing that the Lord has given to
Paul because of his obedience to the Lord.
We have been looking at a desire that Paul has had for some time and
that desire is to go to Rome. After all Paul
was the apostle to the Gentiles, and thus far had not been in what could be
called the capital of the Gentile world, that is Rome. We have been following Paul through three
missionary journeys and then two years in prison, and then finally getting on a
ship with two of his friends to travel to Rome.
However we saw a whole chapter that talked about the difficult journey
that they had been on ending with a shipwreck off the coast of Malta, as the
entire ship was destroyed, but all 276 people came safely on shore which is
where we begin this 28th chapter of Acts.
In
John MacArthur’s commentary he focuses in on obedience and one of the verses
that he uses comes from the 37th Psalm, a verse that I believe that
I put to memory a long while ago and it is a very important verse to read and
to understand: “Delight yourself in the
Lord; and He will give you the desire of your heart.” As we look at this verse and talk about it as
far as how it goes along with the desire of Paul’s heart then we will see that as
we come to the end of this section that the desire of his heart was fulfilled
as he finally ended up in Rome.
26
"See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: 27 the blessing, if you listen to the commandments
of the LORD your God, which I am commanding you today; 28 and the curse,
if you do not listen to the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside
from the way which I am commanding you today, by following other gods which you
have not known (Deut. 11:26-28).” Moses
is telling the children of Israel and this surely applies to believers today
that we are to obey the Lord. Now
obeying the Lord as far as doing works for the Lord will never save us, but
obeying the Lord by admitting that we were born sinners and that there is
nothing we can do on our own to merit salvation, but to understand that God’s
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ came to earth to take our place on the cross in
order to pay for our sins and except that forgiveness offered by Him is how we
can become a true believer in Jesus Christ and be saved from our sins. There is an exchange that takes place at this
point and the exchange is seen in 2 Cor. 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to
be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in
Him.” Jesus Christ knew no sin according
to this verse, yet He became sin for us, now that does not mean that He became
a sinner, for that could never happen, but it does mean that He took our sin
upon Himself and paid for it while hanging on the cross, and then once we
accept this He then gives us His righteousness, a perfect righteousness that
God views and so we can then enter into His presence after we die as He will
take us to heaven to be with Him forever.
What
was written above is one of the reasons that I spend time in God’s Word so I
can tell people all over the world the truth of how we can become a true
believer in Jesus Christ and also I spend time in God’s Word each day so that
it will help believers grow in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Peter wrote “but grow in the grace and
knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both
now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”
These words that Peter wrote are the last words that he recorded in his
last letter found in the Word of God, and so I view them as being very
important, and hope you will too.
John
MacArthur writes the following at the end of his introductory commentary “The
events of Acts 28:1-16 unfold in five scenes:
pagan hospitality, potential harm, public healing, the promise honored,
and private housing.” This is what we
will be following as we move through this section in the book of Acts.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: There is a false teaching going around for a
very long time that once we are saved that we can live the way we want to. NOT TRUE!!
The verses quoted above from the OT speak of being obedient and they are
just as revilement today as they were when Moses, and David wrote them. It was a wonderful reminder for me today to
once again hear the importance of obeying the Word of God and pray that the
Lord will give me the desires of my heart.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Obedience.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Land of Midian” (Exodus
2:15).
Today’s Bible question: “What descendant of Ruth became king of
Israel?”
Answer in our next SD.
10/1/2018 9:47 AM
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