SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/30/2021 10:08 AM
My Worship Time Focus: “John
Overcame Weakness”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
11:7-8
Message of the verses: “7 As these men
were going away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John,
"What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the
wind? 8 “But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing?
Those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ palaces!”
We begin to look at the first main section from
MacArthur’s outline which is entitled “John’s Personal Character,” and what we
are looking at today deals with how John overcame weakness.
MacArthur
writes “The first characteristic of John’s personal greatness demands
reflection on two proceeding verses (2-3) that demonstrate his ability to
recognize and overcome his weaknesses.”
I think that it is best that I quote these two verses: “2 Now
when John, while imprisoned, heard of the works of Christ, he sent word
by his disciples 3 and said to Him,
"Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?’”
The following statement is something that I believe
is true and it has to do with overcoming weakness, the subject that we are
looking at as we continue to look at the life of John the Baptist. As we generally look at the lives of people,
many of them cannot rise above their difficulties and their circumstances. Now we now that because we are all sinners
that we all have problems as it is overcoming them that separates great people
from others. The great people fight
through refusing to give in to their ignorance, handicaps, laziness,
indifference, or whatever other obstacles may be in their way. Now as we continue to look at the life of
John the Baptist we can say that he had that characteristic of greatness in
full measure.
We
have learned from our brief study of John the Baptist that he was filled with
the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb and had been set apart by God to announce
the Messiah and to prepare Israel for the coming of the Messiah. He had seen the Holy Spirit descend on Jesus
at His baptism and had heard God the Father declare Jesus is to be His beloved
Son. Now from many other sources which
include some of his own disciples, he had heard of Jesus’ miraculous
powers. Now it was because of some very
difficult circumstances, such as incomplete revelation, the influence of
popular misconceptions, and unfulfilled expectations that John had misgivings about
Jesus’ identity as the Messiah.
Consequently he would send two of his disciples to Jesus to question
what had previously been unquestioned as we see in verses 2-3 and also can see
it in Luke 7:19 “Summoning two of his disciples, John sent them to the Lord,
saying, "Are You the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?’”
I think that we will stop here and work on finishing
this section in our next SD. In that SD
we will see a quotation from General Douglass MacArthur as he prayed for his
son. While listening to the sermon on
this section a few days ago I heard John MacArthur say that Douglass MacArthur
was a fifth cousin of his, and as we look at the quotation I think that we can
conclude that Douglass MacArthur was a believer, and as I have looked at some
things about General and then President Eisenhower I truly believe that he too
was a believer and that makes two of the very famous Generals of WWII believers
in Jesus Christ. They too had great
character.
11/30/2021 10:33 AM
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