SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/11/2022 7:59 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “I will build My Church”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
16:18-20
Message of the verses: “18 "And I
also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of
Hades shall not overpower it. 19 “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of
heaven; and whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and
whatever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." 20 Then He
warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ.”
I mentioned in our last SD that I would be quoting from
MacArthur’s commentary the last two paragraphs of this second section about
Jesus talking about the certainty of the church.
“Jesus
said, ‘All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me’ (John 6:37). At Pentecost, Peter declared that from among
both Jews and Gentiles, Christ builds into His church ‘as many as the Lord our
God shall call to Himself’ (Acts 2:39).
It was not the apostles but the Lord Himself who ‘was adding to their
number day by day those who were being saved’ (v. 47; cf. 11:24). When the Gentiles of Pisidan Antioch heard
the preaching of Paul and Barnabas, ‘they began rejoicing and glorifying the
word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life
believed. And the word of the Lord was
being spread through the whole region’ (Acts 13:48-49). That preaching, true and faithful as it was,
was not capable by itself of winning converts to Christ. Only those whom He had sovereignly chosen for
salvation and who believed the truth of His Word were saved.
“The
New Testament is copperplate with commands and guidelines for believers’
attitudes and conduct. It gives
direction for selecting godly men and women to serve in the church. It gives abundant instruction for righteous
living, for prayer, and for acceptable worship.
Many of the Lord’s blessings are contingent on His people’s obedience
and trust. But the most sincere and
diligent efforts to fulfill those commands and standards are useless apart from
Christ’s own divine provision and control.
He desires and He uses the faithful work of those who belong to Him; but
only He builds His church, the church that He loves and for whom He ‘gave
Himself up, …that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of
water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her
glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she should be holy
and blameless’ (Eph. 5:25-27). Men are
able to build human, earthly, physical organizations, but they cannot build the
eternal spiritual church.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I desire that the Lord give me those whom He
has chosen before the foundation of the world to come into contact so that I
can tell them the good news.
My Steps of Faith For Today: Trust that the Holy Spirit of God will give
me the grace and wisdom to teach through our Sunday school class this morning
from the 11th chapter of Hebrews.
9/11/2022 8:19 AM
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