SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/24/2021 11:32 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-4 “Intro
to Matt. 10:2a)
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matt. 10:2a
Message of the
verse: “Now
the names of the twelve apostles are these: The first, Simon, who is called
Peter,”
Now as we have been studying the
gospel of Matthew over the last 20+ months we have seen that Jesus has had many
people following Him. We know that He
called twelve men who were a part of the disciples that were following Him to
become apostles, which when you think about it is a seemingly insignificant
number for the task ahead. These twelve
apostles will not only be going up against the world system, but also the ruler
of the world system, Satan.
We can all remember stories of men
or women going against great odds and coming out on top, but for the many who
have there are more who have gone down to defeat, but remembered for their
courage. MacArthur adds “Against
supernatural enemies, however, man can never be successful in his own power, no
matter how great his courage. On the
other hand, when God empowers His people, no obstacle or enemy can withstand
them.”
The following are some heroic
stories from the Old Testament. Shamgar,
who was one of the Judges of Israel, killed 600 men with an ox goad. Many of know the story of Gideon who was
another Judge of Israel and how he began his conquest of an uncountable number
of Midianites and Amalekites began with 32,000 men, yet the Lord showed Gideon
that he only needed 600 men to defeat this enemy, which is what happened. Then there is the story of Samson who
slaughtered 1,000 Philistines with only the jawbone of a donkey as his
weapon. Jonathan, the son of King Saul
and His armor bearer, who was probably only a boy, killed twenty armed
Philistines who were waiting for them at the top of a hill; and that victory
led to the defeat of the entire Philistine army by Israelites who were armed
with only farm implements. Who can
forget what Elijah singlehandedly did as he slaughtered 850 pagan prophet on
top of Mount Carmel. What can we learn
from these stories? We can learn that the
Lord can display His divine power through a handful of men, or even at times
only one man, just as surely as through a multitude—so the small number of the
apostles was no hindrance to the work of the gospel. I have heard it said with God and one man
makes us a majority.
We will close this SD with a
quotation from John MacArthur’s commentary:
“Henry Drummond, the Scottish author and evangelist who wrote the
well-known booklet The Greatest Thing in
the World, was once invited to speak to an exclusive men’s club in
London. He began his talk with a
provocative analogy that those men easily understood: ‘Gentlemen, the entrance fee into the
kingdom of heaven is nothing; however, the annual subscription is everything.’
“Because Jesus Christ paid the total
price for salvation, it costs nothing to become His disciple. But to follow Him as a faithful disciple
costs everything we have. We are not only
saved by Christ’s blood but are bought with it and therefore belong totally to
Him (1 Cor. 6:19-20; 7:23).
“The twelve men Jesus called as
disciples and transformed into apostles were willing to pay everything. They turned their backs on their occupations,
their lifestyles, their homes, their own plans and aspirations. They committed themselves totally to
following Jesus Christ, wherever that would lead and whatever that would cost.
“They were a committed few among the
unbelieving many. From early in His
ministry, and especially after He began performing miracles, Jesus never lacked
for an audience. The multitudes followed
Him wherever He went, so much so that He often had difficulty being alone by
Himself or with the Twelve. The crowds
were attached by the right of authority in His voice, by the uniqueness of His
message, by the wonder of His miracles, and by His concern for common people
and for the sick, diseased, and sinful.” We will continue looking at this introduction
in our next SD, Lord willing.
7/24/2021 12:15
PM
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