PT-1 "Calling James and John" (Matt. 4:21-22)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/29/2020 8:48 AM

My Worship Time                                                              Focus:  PT-1 “Calling James and John”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Matthew 4:21-22

            Message of the verses:  “21 And going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them. 22 And they immediately left the boat and their father, and followed Him.”

            When Jesus called James and John they were rough outdoors men who were in the boat with their father doing a job that was not the most fun work to do but when you are fishermen the nets have to be mended in order for fish to stay in them.  Jesus had called them to faith in He, the Messiah earlier as seen in the gospel of John, but this was the call to do the work of an evangelist and as soon as He called them they immediately followed Him.  This would be their task to do for the rest of their lives, doing the work of an evangelist.  I just finished looking at a section of verses in the book of Genesis to place onto my other blog and in those verses is speaks of the work that Adam and Eve would be doing in the garden that the Lord had created.  The point was that there was work to do even before the fall, and there is work to do after the fall too, and James and John’s would be to follow the Savior for three years so that they could learn from Him and then after His resurrection they would continue to do the work of an evangelist, telling others how they can be saved and receive eternal life.

            We have mentioned before the type of people that Jesus called to do this work for Him, and the men that he chose were different than the so called experts found in Jerusalem, these were men that were not educated in the schools found in Jerusalem that the Scribes and the Pharisees attended.  Jesus would later call Saul who became Paul the Apostle who did attend one of those schools, but after His calling he realized that the things that he learned from the school had a much deeper meaning.  I believe that they taught about the Old Testament which would come alive to Paul after he was called by Jesus to salvation.

            John MacArthur describes these disciples in the following quotation:  “These disciples had little education, little spiritual perception, and possibly little religious training of any sort.  As their new Master began to teach them, even when He spoke in parables, they often lacked full comprehension of His meaning.

            “They were often self-centered and inhospitable.  When the multitude who had waslked a long way around the Sea of Galilee to be with Jesus became hungry the disciples though only of sending them away on their own to find food (Matt. 14:15).  When some little children were brought to Jesus for blessing, the disciples rebuked those who brought them (19:13).  Peter thought he would be extremely generous to forgive someone ‘up to seven times’ (18:21).  Even on the night of Jesus’ betrayal, as their Lord agonized in the Garden of Gethsemane, Peter, James, and John could not stay awake with Him (26:40, 45).  The disciples were selfish, proud, weak, and cowardly.  They showed little potential even for dependability, much less for greatness.  Yet Jesus chose them for disciples, even to be His inner circle of twelve.  They were raw material that He would make into useful instruments.”

            As I think over this description of these disciples I can see them in a different light as I think about these things that were pointed out in these two paragraphs and therefore can better understand these men would be responsible to begin to tell the world about the Savior.  I realize that after Pentecost that they would be filled with the Holy Spirit to continue their education as Jesus promised.  As long as they depended on the power of the Holy Spirit they would do fine, it is when they were not doing this and trying to do it on their own that they would fail.  The same is true with me too, as I need to be in control of the Holy Spirit in order to do the work that God has called me to do.

2/29/2020 9:46 AM

PT-2 "Calling Peter and Andrew" (Matt. 4:18-22)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/28/2020 9:53 AM

My Worship Time                                                          Focus:  PT-2 “Calling Peter and Andrew”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Matt. 4:18-20

            18 And walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 19 And He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." 20 And they immediately left the nets, and followed Him.”

            The call that Jesus gives is for Peter and Andrew to bear fruit through evangelism, and that call is given to everyone who has accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior, for the called ones are to be the callers.  I remember when Jesus Christ saved me in 1974 and after I got back home from Florida to Ohio I wanted to tell others about what happened to me while I was in Florida.  I rode my motorcycle with a number of other men and I remember talking to one of the guys wife about Jesus Christ and she accepted the Lord as her Lord and Savior.  I then talked to her husband and told him all that happened to me and I stated what a change that it made in my heart, but he was not interested.  Later on the couple divorced and I have pretty much lost track of them because they moved to Florida, although I had heard that the wife was still following the Lord.  The point in this story is that once you become a believer you want to tell others about that experience because of the love you have for the Lord who saved you.  Peter later on wrote “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;” (1 Peter 2:9).  John MacArthur writes “Christ mandates that all of His followers be ‘fishermen.’  The command ‘follow Me’ (in the Greek and adverb of place expressing a command) literally means ‘come here.’  The term after is used in the original to show the place they are to come:  ‘Your place is following after Me!’”

            In John MacArthur’s sermon and in his commentary he tells the story of an Italian man who was found dead in his house.  People went into his house and found 246 expensive violins which he had bought and kept.  None of the violins were played they just sat there in boxes never played for the enjoyment of others to hear.  It is reported that 95% of believers never tell others about how they were saved, as they are just like the un-played violins, never making the beautiful music of the gospel.  He writes It is even reported that the first violin the great Stradivarius ever made was not played until it was 147 years old!”

            MacArthur writes “When D. L. Moody once visited an art gallery in Chicago he was especially impressed by a painting called ‘The Rock of Ages.’  The picture showed a person with both hands clinging to a cross firmly embedded in a rock.  While the stormy sea smashed against the rock, he hung tightly to the cross.  Years later Mr. Moody saw a similar picture.  This one also showed a person in a storm holding to a cross, but with one hand he was reaching out to someone who was about to drown.  The great evangelist commented that, thought the first painting was beautiful, the second was even lovelier.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The phrase “let you light shine” is what believers are supposed to do.  We are not to hide our light but to shine it, similar to playing music on expensive violins. 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  It is my desire and it will probably be my desire to learn humility for the rest of my life as it will never be perfected, but hopefully improved.  It is also my desire to receive joy from the Holy Spirit as I study His Word.

2/28/2020 10:25 AM

PT-1 "Calling Peter and Andrew" (Matt. 4:18-20)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/27/2020 9:45 AM

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  PT-1 “Calling Peter and Andrew”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Matthew 4:18-20

            Message of the verses:  “18 And walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 19 And He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." 20 And they immediately left the nets, and followed Him.”

            The following will give us some statics on the Sea of Galilee:  It is an oval-shaped body of water which is about eight miles wide and thirteen miles long.  The lake is somewhere around 700 feet below sea level.  Luke is the only gospel writer that calls it a lake as he was a world-wide traveler and saw man large bodies of water and so he called Galilee a lake.  I surely agree with that.  Josephus reports that in the first century A. D. that there were some 240 boats that regularly fished the waters of this lake.  There was even more fishing done from the shore.  Simon (Peter) and Andrew brothers also had a fishing business on this lake, and at the time Jesus called them they were “casting a net into the sea.”

            The fishing business used three different methods of fishing in that day, and not much has changed as nets were used from the boats, and small nets were used near the land, and then using a line with a hook was the third way, as stated not much has changed.  Peter and Andrew were here obviously were at this time when Jesus called them fishing from shore using a net, a smaller net than was used from the boats.  We know that they also used that method too.  The net they were using according to MacArthur was probably about nine feet in diameter, and the two brothers were skilled in the way to use it.  MacArthur writes “The Greek term for that particular net was smphiblestron (related to our amphibious, an adjective describing something related to both land and water)—so named because the person using the net would stand on or near shore and throw the net into the deeper water where the fish were.”

            Jesus in calling these first disciples was gathering together the first fish-catching crew of His church.  All we have to do is to think about who was the first person to preach the very first message of the church and we can come back to this moment when Jesus called Peter.  These two were Jesus first partners in the ministry that He began.  These were the first two evangelists who would help to fulfill the great-commission.  This was Jesus plan all along to have these two fishermen to begin to evangelize the world.  He did not use the so-called learned people like the Pharisees, Scribes, or Sadducees.  We know that Jesus would call these men to do other things in the ministry, but His first call to them was, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

            John MacArthur writes “We are given specific details of the callings of only seven of the original twelve.  But Jesus individually selected those who would become part of the first marvelous ministry of winning people to Himself.  ‘He called His disciples to Him; and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles’ (Luke 6:13).  God always chooses His partners.  He chose Noah and Abraham, Moses and David.  He chose the prophets.  He chose Israel herself to be a whole nation of partners, ‘a kingdom of priests and a holy nation’ (Ex. 19:6).  Jesus told His disciples, ‘You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit’ (John 15:16; cf. 6:70; 13:18).  Paul called Epaenetus ‘the first convert (lit., ‘first fruit,’ aparche) to Christ from Asia’ (Rom. 16:5).”

            We will divide this section into two parts, and Lord willing, we will finish this up in tomorrow’s SD.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  To me it is mindboggling to think that I too was chosen by the Lord, but that is the only way that I can explain the change that was brought over me after the Lord saved me.  To think about Peter’s life and for that matter the rest of the apostles lives as I look at the beginning of their relationship with the Lord seems to put more understanding to me in their lives and how they did what they did for the Lord.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to seek to be humble, and to find joy in the study of God’s Word.

2/27/2020 10:21 AM

PT-4 "Intro to Matt. 4:18-22)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/26/2020 11:05 AM

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  PT-4 “Intro to Matt. 4:18-22”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matt. 4:18-22

            Message of the verses:  “18 And walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 19 And He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." 20 And they immediately left the nets, and followed Him. 21 And going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them. 22 And they immediately left the boat and their father, and followed Him.”

            I mentioned that we will continue to look at how the disciples of Jesus were called in today’s SD.  As one looks through the gospels and compares them they will find that there were at least five different phases of Jesus’ calling His twelve disciples.  Each one of the gospel writers emphasized those phases in order to use them in their particular purpose of writing the gospel.  The very first call was for salvation to have faith in Jesus as their Messiah, and this can be seen in John’s gospel 1:35-51; and also 2:11.  This calling that Matthew mentions here in our verses for today is the second calling, which is the calling to witness.  Neither in of these first two callings did the disciples leave their occupation, nor in this case which would be fishing. The third call is seen in Luke 5:1-22 and we will take the time to look at these verses: 

“1 Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret; 2 and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. 3 And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down and began teaching the people from the boat. 4 When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch." 5 Simon answered and said, "Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets." 6 When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break; 7 so they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, "Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!" 9  For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken; 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men." 11 When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.”

            We will now look at the fourth level found in Mark’s gospel and in chapter three verses thirteen to fifteen.  “13 And He went up on the mountain and summoned those whom He Himself wanted, and they came to Him. 14 And He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach, 15 and to have authority to cast out the demons.”

            The fifth phase is found in Matthew 10:1 “1 Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.”

            John MacArthur concludes this section in the following “God calls all believers in a similar way.  First He calls us to salvation, apart from which no other call could be effective.  He then calls us progressively to more specific and ever-expanding service.”  Now as I think about this process it runs in my mind that the progressive sanctification is something that is involved in these different phases.  Then I have one more question that I don’t have an answer to, but if I do get one that satisfies me I will then put it on one of my Spiritual Diaries.  The question is what about Judas?  Was Judas involved in the casting out of demons?  Was he involved in all the things that the disciples were involved in?  My first thought is that he was, but I can’t explain why I believe this is true.  At any rate we will begin to look at “Calling Peter and Andrew,” in our next SD, Lord willing.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is good to read and study about all of these different phases so that I can pray that the phases that God has in my life will be done to the glory of God.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Things have not changed much for this section as I still desire to learn humility, and have joy as I study God’s Word.

2/26/2020 11:45 AM

PT-3 "Intro to Matt. 4:18-22

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/25/2020 10:01 AM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-3 Intro to Matt. 4:18-22

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matt. 4:18-22

            Message of the verses:  “18 And walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 19 And He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." 20 And they immediately left the nets, and followed Him. 21 And going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them. 22 And they immediately left the boat and their father, and followed Him.”

            We continue to look at how the gospel was spread in the early NT times as we think about Saul of Tarsus who later became the apostle Paul and wrote a good deal of the NT books.  Paul was a Pharisee who loved the Law of God, but did not really love the Lord and one day as he was going to Damascus the Lord began to talk to him and the Lord was so bright that Saul’s eyes were blinded.  Saul was certainly not looking for the Lord and his story reminds me a bit about how the Lord saved me as I was going to visit a friend in Florida, certainly not looking for the Lord, but the Lord stopped me in my tracks and saved me.  After Paul was saved his desire was to tell others about the Lord Jesus Christ and how they could be saved, and this was my desire too, and that is one of the reasons that I write these Spiritual Diaries and put them onto my blogs. 

            John MacArthur writes “Evangelism has been the heartthrob of faithful Christians throughout the history of the church.  John Knox pleaded with God, ‘Give me Scotland or I die.’ John Wesley considered the whole world his parish.

            Like the Christian life in general, soul-winning involves a paradox.  Jesus said, ‘For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it’ (Mat. 16:25).  In other words, in saving others we lose ourselves; in losing ourselves in the task we will be used to win others.  Jesus warned His disciples that the Jewish leaders would soon ‘make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God’ (John 16:2)—just as they hated Jesus Himself ‘without a cause’ (15:25).  Those who would reach the world must be willing to be rejected by the world, just as our Lord conquered death by yielding to death.”

            2/25/2020 10:15 AM  2/25/2020 11:32 AM

            MacArthur goes on to write “In a sense, the life of evangelism involves sacrificing the greater for the lesser, the worthy for the unworthy.  It is the opposite of the loveless and brutal survival of the fittest—the way of the fallen, sinful world.  God’s way, the way of the redemption, is that of the strong being willing to die that the weak might live.  God’s Word is clear that, if we are committed to the salvation of those without Jesus Christ, we will lose ourselves in order to reach them.  Preaching the saving gospel is essential, and so is personal witnessing.”

            MacArthur states the forms of the word evangelize are used some 50 times in the New Testament and the thrust of the Great Commission is to evangelize:  “"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,’ (Matthew 28:19).  When we make a disciple means that we have to evangelize them in the first place, to bring them to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and then to disciple them so that they in turn can do the same for other people, and so what happens in evangelism is having one bagger finding bread and then telling other baggers where to find that bread.

            In our next SD I want to begin with, Lord willing, by talking about the at least five different phases of Jesus’ calling of the twelve.  I hope that the next SD will end our introduction into these verses from Matthew 4:18-22.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I look back at when the Lord saved me and some of the things that I have learned after that wonderful call that He gave me through His Holy Spirit, I have to admit to my disgrace that the health and wealth gospel has impacted my life.  I was called by our Lord to learn and grow and to be ready to tell others the hope that I have, and there were times when I failed that calling.  Evangelism is what I as a believer should be ready to do at anytime.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I desire to be humble, to have joy as I study the Word of God and to “always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;” (1 Peter 3:15).

2/25/2020 11:54 AM

PT-2 "Intro to Matt. 4:18-22"

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/24/2020 10:06 AM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-2 Intro to Matt. 4:18-22

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Matthew 4:18-22

            Message of the verses:  “18 Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 19 And He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. 21 Going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.”

            In our Spiritual Diary from yesterday we looked at what we could say was a picture of what happens to most churches after they begin.  If one looks at the Spiritual Diaries that I wrote about the seven churches in Revelation chapters 2 and 3 you can see the downfall of churches pretty much in order that they are presented in those two chapters with the exception of Smyrna, and Philadelphia as our Lord had nothing to say about these two churches that are bad or hurtful.

            MacArthur continues with his discussion about the history of the church: “What a striking illustration of the history of the church.  Yet the work of evangelism, of spiritual lifesaving, is nonetheless the purest, truest, noblest, and most essential work the church will ever do.  The work of fishing men and women out of the sea of sin, the work of rescuing people from the breakers of hell, is the greatest work the church is called to do.

            “Rescuing men from sin is God’s great concern.  Evangelism has been called the sob of God.  Concern for the lost caused Jesus to grieve over unbelieving Jerusalem:  ‘O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!  How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling’ (Matt. 23:37).”

            By the way the title MacArthur gives to this section of verses is called “Fishing for Men.”  I think that is a great title for these verses as Jesus calls those disciples who will be those who will be fishing for the souls of men, probably as noted the greatest thing that the church does.

            A part of God’s character and an attribute that He has is love, and love is why God sent His Son to planet earth so that He could preach, die, and be raised for the very purpose of saving men from sin as seen in probably the most favorite verse in all the Bible, John 3:16 “"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”  John 3:17 goes on to say “"For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”  Let us look at Luke 19:10 “"For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."  One more verse I want us to look at and that is Titus 3:5 “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.”  Now as you look at these verses you can see that the whole Trinity is at work in the ministry of saving mankind from sin.  As we at stated maybe not in these words, but words that were similar: “Evangelism is the great concern of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

            If we go back to what happened in the Garden of Eden we can see from Genesis 3:15 that God promised that one day sin would be destroyed and that Satan would be bruised “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.’”  As we move along in the book of Genesis we see from 12:3 another promise given in a promise that God gave to Abraham:  “And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.’”  Notice the highlighted portion of this verse that surely speaks of the coming Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.

            As we look through the Word of God we can see that there were many people who were very concerned with the salvation of souls.  “"But now, if You will, forgive their sin-and if not, please blot me out from Your book which You have written!’” This was written by Moses who as we can see had a very tender heart for souls.  “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, And he who is wise wins souls,” writes Solomon in Proverbs 11:30.  The Lord told Daniel in Daniel 12:3 “"Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.”  I can think of what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans “9:3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.”

            We will conclude this second section on the intro to Matthew 4:18-22 by talking about what happened immediately after the gospel was given out in the second chapter of the book of Acts, the day the church was born.  We can see that after Peter’s great sermon on the gospel that afterwards those who were saved began to tell others about what happened to them.  We read a number of times in the book of Acts how many souls were saved until the number grew so great that it was not given again, but nonetheless it was growing greatly.  The church was to go into all the world to seek and to save those who were lost, but it seems that the baby church in Jerusalem was not willing to do that until persecution came upon them from especially Saul.  “Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word” (Acts 8:4).  This is what happened after that persecution.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I desire for the Lord to revive my heart so that I can be used by Him to bring people to the Lord.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  As mentioned, to be revived to have the same kind of heart that I had when the Lord saved me, to love the Lord like then, to continue to learn humility, and to find joy in the study of His Word.

2/24/2020 10:57 AM

           

Story about the Church

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/23/2020 7:41 AM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-1 Intro to Matt. 4:18-22)

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matt. 4:18-22

            Message of the verses:  “18 Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 19 And He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. 21 Going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.”

            We will take a short look at the first part of this introduction in which John MacArthur calls “Fishing for Men.”  Is it ironic that Jesus would chose fishermen to go and fish for men?  I don’t think so, but we know that many of his disciples were fishermen.

            In his commentary on this section MacArthur begins with a story, a story that is a sobering parable of what the church’s concern for evangelism has often been like: 

“On a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks were frequent, a crude little lifesaving station was built.  The building was just a hut, and there was only one boat, but the few devoted crewmen kept a constant watch over the sea.  With no thought for themselves, they went out day or night, tirelessly searching for any who might need help.  Many lives were saved by their devoted efforts.  After a while the station became famous.  Some of those who were saved, as well as others in the surrounding area, wanted to become a part of the work.  They gave time and money for its support.  New boats were bought, additional crews were trained, and the station grew.  Some of the members become unhappy that the building was so crude.  They felt a larger, nicer place would be more appropriate as the first refuge of those saved from sea.  So they replaced the emergence cots with hospital beds and put better furniture in the enlarged building.  Soon the station became a popular gathering place for its members to discuss the work and to visit with each other.  They continued to remodel and decorate until the station more and more took on the look and character of a club.  Fewer members were interested in going out on lifesaving missions, so they hired professional crews to do the work on the behalf. The lifesaving motif still prevailed on the club emblems and stationery, and there was a liturgical lifeboat in the room where the club held its imitations.  One day a large ship was wrecked off the coast, and the hired crews brought in many boatloads of cold, wet, half-drowned people.  They were dirty, bruised, and sick; and some had black or yellow skin.  The beautiful new club was terribly messed up, and so the property committee immediately had a shower house built outside, where the ship-wreck victims could be cleaned up before coming inside.  At the next meeting there was a split in the club membership.  Most of the members wanted to stop the club’s lifesaving activities altogether, as being unpleasant and a hindrance to the normal social life of the club.  Some members insisted on keeping lifesaving as their primary purpose and pointed out that, after all, they were still called a lifesaving station.  But those members were voted down and told that if they wanted to save lives they could begin their own station down the coast somewhere.  As the years went by, the new station gradually faced the same problems the other one had experienced.  It, too, became a club and its lifesaving work became less and less of a priority.  The few members who remained dedicated to lifesaving became another station.  History continued to repeat itself; and if you visit the coast today you will find a number of exclusive clubs along the shore.  Shipwrecks are still frequent in those waters, but most of the people drown.

Lord willing, we will continue to look more at this story and how it is about the church in our next SD.

2/23/2020 8:02 AM

The Right Proclamation" (Matt. 4:17)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/22/2020 9:44 AM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  “The Right Proclamation”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 4:17

            Message of the verse:  “17 From that time Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”

            We come to the last main section from this ninth chapter of John MacArthur’s commentary on the 9^th chapter and we will try and finish this chapter today, but may have to finish it tomorrow.

            We want to look at the word “preach” as it was a central part of our Lord’s ministry while on earth, and continues today to be a central part of the ministry of the church.  The Greek word for preach is “Kerusso” and this means to proclaim or to publish, “that is, to publicly make a message known.  R. C. H. Lenski comments, ‘The point to be noted is that to preach is not to argue, reason, dispute, or convince by intellectual proof, against all of which a keen intellect may bring counterargument.  We simply state in public or testify to all men the truth which God bids us state.  No argument can assail the truth presented in this announcement or testimony.  Men either believe the truth, as all sane men should, or refuse to believe it, as only fools venture to do.’”

            We can see from this description of what preaching is that Jesus preached His message with certainty.  He did not come to dispute or to argue, but to proclaim, or to preach.  What Jesus preached to those listening to Him was the truth, and I realize that some do not want to hear the truth, and will even say that the truth is not the truth, but that would be wrong.  Jesus said in John 14:6 “"I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”  That is the truth and even many today don’t believe this statement the thing is that that does not make it a lie, for it is the truth and always will be the truth. 

            Not only did Jesus preach with certainty and authority, but Jesus preached only what He was commissioned by His Father to preach.  Let us look at two verses from John’s gospel; 3:34 and then 8:38 “"34 For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for He gives the Spirit without measure” (Spoken by John the Baptist).  “38 “I speak the things which I have seen with My Father; therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father” (Spoken by Jesus to the Pharisees).  Well we need to look at John 12:49 also “"For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak.”

            There is more found in Jesus’ high priestly prayer to confirm that He only preached what His Father commissioned Him to preach:  “6 "I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. 7  "Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; 8  for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me.”

            John MacArthur writes “When the King’s light dawned, the message that His light brought was clear.  He began where His herald, John the Baptist, had begun:  ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’ (cf. 3:2).”

            We have been talking a lot about light and darkness in this section from the 4^th chapter of Matthew and Jesus was certainly bringing spiritual light to a very dark world and that light came in the form of the gospel and part of the gospel message was to repent, to turn from sin, to change one’s orientation, to turn around and seek a new way.  MacArthur writes “Metanoeo literally means a change of perception, a change in the way we see something.  To repent, therefore, is to change the way a person looks at sin and the way he looks at righteousness.  It involves a change of opinion, of direction, of life itself. T repent is to have a radical change of heart and will—and, consequently, of behavior (cf. Matt. 3:8).”

            This is and always will be the first requirement of salvation, for as I have mentioned many times in these SD’s none of us were born right we were all born wrong, we were all born sinners became of Adam and Eve’s sin in the garden.  We sin because we were born sinners, we may not be as bad as we can be, but we are all as bad off as we can be. 

            Israel as a whole would not be ready to receive their Messiah because they did not desire to repent as can be seen by most of the Israel’s “religious” authorities like the Pharisees and Sadducees. Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven was at hand, but they would bring about their greatest sin by crucifying their Messiah, and they are still being cursed by that sin even today.

            Because of Israel’s rejection of their Messiah the literal physical kingdom was set aside.  We now live in the spiritual kingdom, which will end at the rapture of the church, and then there will be a time of tribulation for seven years and then we have learned that all Israel will be saved, the Lord will return and after 45 days the literal physical kingdom promised to Israel will begin and last for 1000 years.  I certainly look forward to all of this happening.

2/22/2020 10:24 AM

PT-3 "The Right Place" (Matt. 4:12b-16)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/21/2020 8:13 AM

My Worship Time                                                                          Focus:  PT-3 “The Right Place”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 4:12b-16

            Message of the verses:  “He withdrew into Galilee; 13 and leaving Nazareth, He came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. 14 This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, 15 “THE LAND OF ZEBULUN AND THE LAND OF NAPHTALI, BY THE WAY OF THE SEA, BEYOND THE JORDAN, GALILEE OF THE GENTILES- 16 “THE PEOPLE WHO WERE SITTING IN DARKNESS SAW A GREAT LIGHT, AND TO THOSE WHO WERE SITTING IN THE LAND AND SHADOW OF DEATH, UPON THEM A LIGHT DAWNED.’”

            In our SD for this morning we continue to look at the region of Galilee and as mentioned this is where our Lord spent much time while He was on planet earth.  We want to look at a brief history of this region which goes back to when the Lord gave different tribes of Israel different parts of what we call the Holy Land.  This region was given to three different tribes, Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali as seen in Joshua 19:10-39.  There was a problem after Zebulun and Naphtali as they failed to expel all the Canaanites from their territory.  You see once Israel came into the land Joshua led the tribes to take over the lands that God had given to each tribe and then these tribes were told that it was up to them to rid their land of the Canaanites who were then living in the land.  I have written about this in the past as it is a picture of what happens to a believer when they first become saved.  God saves us and then we still have different sins in our lives that just as the tribes of Israel had to do, and that was rid their land of those Canaanites, and if they did not do this then those Canaanites would led them into the worship of their gods, which is what happened to Israel.  As believers we, through the power of the Holy Spirit are to do the same things with the sins that we still have problems with, and we don’t want to end up like what happened to Israel.

            It was in the eight century B. C. that the Assyrians under their leader Tiglath-pileser took away a large part of those tribes as captives as seen in 2 Kings 15:29, and then they were replaced with Assyrians and others who were non-Jews.  Later on it was temporarily liberated by Judas Maccabeus in 164 B. C. The region of Galilee was largely under foreign control and it was even populated by non-Jews.  Then there came another Jewish leader, Aristobulus who re-conquered Galilee in 104 B. C. He tried unsuccessfully to establish an entirely Jewish nation by forcibly circumcising all male inhabitants.  One might imagine that through those disrupting centuries, the Jews that remained in Galilee were greatly weakened in both their biblical and traditional Judaism, and this gives us greater understanding why we read in verse fifteen “Galilee of the Gentiles.

            It is a shame that persons from another part of different countries are looked down upon by others who think that they are superior to them.  This is something that is going on in our country today as many, including me are called deplorable.  It was no different when our Lord was born and began His ministry and the Jews in Jerusalem said in John 7:41 “Others were saying, "This is the Christ." Still others were saying, "Surely the Christ is not going to come from Galilee, is He?”  These so called Bible scholars missed the part about Jesus being called a Nazirite, coming from Nazareth. 

            As we move on in our study of these verses from the 4^th chapter of Matthew we see that there is a very large portion of this section quoted from Isaiah and it comes from 9:1-2 which we will not look at.  “1 But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish; in earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. 2 The people who walk in darkness Will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, The light will shine on them.”  John MacArthur writes “The fact alone that Jesus so accurately and completely fulfilled Old Testament prophecy should be enough to convince an honest mind of the Bible’s truthfulness and authority.  Just as Isaiah had predicted eight centuries earlier, the despised, sin-darkened, and rebellious Galileans were the first to glimpse the Messiah, the first to see the dawning of God’s New Covenant!  Not might and beautiful Jerusalem, but the mongrel, downcast, nontraditional mixed multitude of Samaria and Galilee had the great honor.  To those who were neediest, and who were most likely to recognize their need, Jesus went first.”  

            If I were to bring something similar that is going on in our country today with what went on in Israel when our Lord walked their I would have to compare Jerusalem at that time with what we call the swamp today that lives in Washington DC.  The middle of our country is what some call the fly-over people and deplorable are like those who lived in Galilee during the times when Christ ministered there, with the exception that in the end they too rejected the Messiah as Jesus put a curse on different cities in the area including Capernaum, and there is only two building there today according to John MacArthur as a result of the curse that Jesus put on that city.  Jesus was sent to be “a light of revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel” as spoken by both Isaiah first and then Simeon who actually quoted Luke 2:32 from Isaiah 42:6-7.

            I will finish this rather long section with a quotation from John MacArthur as he finishes up his comments on this section:  “It was in and around Galilee that Jesus had spent all but a small part of His childhood and early manhood, and it was there that His ministry first developed and began to spread.  As the new day of the gospel dawned, the first rays of light shined in Galilee. Into this land of oppression, dispersion, and corrosive moral and spiritual influence—and impending death at the word of divine judgment—Jesus came and with words and deeds of mercy, truth, love, and hope:  ‘To those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death, upon them a light dawned.’”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Where would we be without light today?  Good question, but the most important answer to this question speaks of the Light of our Lord Jesus Christ, for without His Light we would be in total darkness eternally.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I am thankful for the Light of the gospel to be given to me some 46 years ago last month.  I desire to better love the Lord, to continue to gain humility, and to continue to have joy as I study the Word of God each day.

2/21/2020 9:16 AM

PT-2 "The Right Place" (Matt. 4:12b-16)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/20/2020 8:33 AM

My Worship Time                                                                          Focus:  PT-2 “The Right Place”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matt. 4:12b-16

            Message of the verses:  “He withdrew into Galilee; 13 and leaving Nazareth, He came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. 14 This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, 15 “THE LAND OF ZEBULUN AND THE LAND OF NAPHTALI, BY THE WAY OF THE SEA, BEYOND THE JORDAN, GALILEE OF THE GENTILES- 16 “THE PEOPLE WHO WERE SITTING IN DARKNESS SAW A GREAT LIGHT, AND TO THOSE WHO WERE SITTING IN THE LAND AND SHADOW OF DEATH, UPON THEM A LIGHT DAWNED.’”

            We want to talk about the area of Galilee during the Roman occupation of The Holy Land as this is important to understand because this is where Jesus would live and minister for much of His time on earth.  This region is about sixty miles long, north to south, and then about thirty miles wide.  We know that the Sea of Galilee was in this area and the most populated area there was near the Sea of Galilee.  There is estimation that this area around the sea had around two million people living there.  Now the soil was extremely fertile and the sea (lake) furnished a great quantity of fish that could be eaten.  One thing that I did not know before I began to study this section is that the Jewish historian Josephus was the governor of Galilee and he stated “It is throughout rich in soil and pasture, producing every variety of tree, and inviting by its productivity everywhere productive’ (The Wars of the Jews 3. 3. 2).

            One of the things that I learned is that in Galilee the Jews who lived there were not as sophisticated and traditional than those in Judea, and especially those in the great metropolis of Jerusalem.  More from Josephus who observed that Galileans “were fond of innovations and by nature disposed to change, and they delighted in seditions.”  We know from one of Peter’s denials for Jesus that the Galileans had a different accent in their speech.  MacArthur adds “Perhaps Jesus chose His disciples from that area because they would be less bound to Jewish tradition and more open to the newness of the gospel.”

            We know from Luke’s writing that Jesus was in Nazareth for a while.  Luke explains that after Jesus came from Judea through Samaria, that ‘He returned to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read’ (Luke 4:14, 16).  Luke’s story goes on as Jesus would read from the book of Isaiah and when He said that the Scripture that He was reading was fulfilled in Him, the hometown crowd had trouble believing it because they saw Him grow up, and knew His family, but nevertheless it was all true of Him.  “18 “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, 19 TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.’”  They then tried to kill Him, but that was not going to happen until the time was right, the time which we spoke of yesterday in that Spiritual Diary.

            Next we read after His hometown rejection “He came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali.”  It is possible that the village of Capernaum was name after the prophet Nahum for that is what Capernaum means (village of Nahum).  The word Nahum means “compassion,” and thus it may mean that the town simply had been named for its compassionate people.  When Jesus lived there Capernaum was a thriving and prosperous city.  Matthew who pens this gospel had his tax office there as seen in Matthew 9:9.  There is little there today with the exception of the synagogue that has been dug out and redone along with a house that some think was Peter’s house.  This all happened because of the cruses that Jesus spoke to them about.  Capernaum had the wonderful experience of having Jesus live there for a long period of time as it was the headquarters of His Galilean ministry, and yet they truly did not benefit from Him living there in there midst.   

            In closing I will quote one paragraph from MacArthur’s commentary on Matthew:  “As we learn from Matthew’s quotation of Isaiah 9:1 in verse 15, ‘the land of Zebulun and Naphtali, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordon,’ had long been known as ‘Galilee of the Gentiles’ (ethnoi, heathen, or nations).  All of Galilee was ancient Phoenicians to the west.  It was more of a crossroads than Jerusalem, which was isolated from much trade traffic.  A famous trade route was actually known as ‘the way of the sea.’  It went through ‘Galilee’ on its way from Damascus to the Mediterranean coast and then down to Egypt.  One ancient writer said that Judea was on the way to nowhere, whereas Galilee was on the way to everywhere.  The Galilean Jews’ constant association with Gentiles contributed greatly to their non-traditional character.”

            As we study the life of Christ through the different gospels I believe that it is good to study things like are written by MacArthur’s last paragraph in order to better understand more about Jesus Christ.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Learning about the different places that Jesus lived and ministered makes Him feel much more real to me.  It has always been my desire to visit Israel to see where Jesus walked and lived as people who did this say it makes the Bible come alive to them much more than just reading it.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I desire to learn some things that my son spoke of as he spoke of his grandpa at his funeral and said “If you don’t forgive you can’t love.  If you can’t love, you can’t mourn, and if you do not mourn you will never heal.”  Learning all of these things will certainly make me a better follower of Jesus Christ.  Humility is also on the list of things to learn, along with asking the Lord to give me a joyful experience as I study His Word.

2/20/2020 9:24 AM