SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/21/2021 10:09 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-1 “Intro to Matthew 10:2a”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
10:2a
Message of the
verse: “Now
the names of the twelve apostles are these: The first, Simon, who is called
Peter,”
I think that it is best to give the
different titles that John MacArthur gives to this chapter in order for us to better
understand where we are going. “THE
MASTER’S MEN—PART1: PETER: A LESSON IN LEADERSHIP”
MacArthur begins his introduction to
this 12th chapter in his second book on the gospel of Matthew with a
quotation from a man named S. D. Gordon from his book entitled “Quiet Talks on
Service.” In this portion of his book
Gordon gives an imaginary account of Jesus’ return to heaven after His
ascension. “As the angel Gabriel greets
Jesus, he asks, ‘Master, You died for the world, did You not?’ To which Jesus replies, ‘Yes.’ You must have
suffered much,’ the angel says; and again Jesus answers, ‘Yes.’ Do they all know that You died for them?’ Gabriel continues. ‘No.
Only a few in Palestine know about it so far,’ Jesus says. ‘Well, then, what is Your plan for telling
the rest of the world that You shed Your blood for them?’ Jesus responds, ‘Well, I asked Peter and
James and John and Andrew and a few others, and they in turn could tell still
others, and finally it would reach the farthest corner of the earth and all
would know the thrill and power of the gospel.’
But suppose Peter fails? And
suppose after a while John just doesn’t tell anyone? And what if James and Andres are ashamed or
afraid? Then what’ Gabriel asks.
‘I have no other plans,’ Jesus is said to have answered; ‘I am counting
entirely on them.’” This story was cited
in Herbert Lockyer’s book All the
Apostles of the Bible which was written in 1972.
I think that it is safe to say that
Jesus needed no other plans because although these men did not fail, the church
that began in Acts chapter two has had an up and down ride, but I have to
believe that all of those that the Lord has chosen before the world began have
certainly heard the gospel message and have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as
their Lord and Savior.
For all who have accepted Jesus
Christ as Lord and Savior the power of the gospel has changed them as the Holy
Spirit of God has come to live in their lives and given them a new direction to
follow which will finally end when they get to heaven, and then live with the
Lord forever and ever serving Him without the obstacles that all believers face
while living here on planet earth.
In
our society that we live in we know that there are standards set in order to
get a job. For instance if one wants to
be a secretary there is probably a set number of words per minute that they
would have to be able to type. I think
you see where I am going here as we compare the standards that God has set
forth in His Word for His people, especially those in leadership, as they are
extremely high. We see these standards found in what is called the Pastoral
Epistles that mostly were written by Paul, but also by Peter too. What are the standards for believers? Jesus speaks of this in Matthew 5:48, a
section we have already gone over where we read “You are to be perfect, as your
heavenly Father is perfect.” Now here is
what we call tension found in the Scriptures stating things like “We have all
sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
Paul writes the following in Romans 7:18 “I know that nothing good
dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.”
Earlier in this same letter Paul writes “10 The scriptures endorse this
fact plainly enough. There is none righteous, no, not one. 11 There is none that
understandeth, There is none that seeketh after God; 12 They have all turned
aside, they are together become unprofitable; There is none that doeth good,
no, not so much as one” (Philips). I
think that you can see the tension as we compare Scripture with Scripture
speaking of the subject of salvation.
I
believe that this will be a fairly long introduction and so we will stop here
and Lord, willing take up where we left off today in tomorrow’s SD.
7/21/2021 10:42 AM
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