SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/28/2023 8:05 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-3 “Intro to Matt. 20:20-28”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
20:20-28
Message of the verses: “20 Then the mother
of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons, bowing down and making a
request of Him. 21 And He said to her, "What do you wish?" She said
to Him, "Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit one
on Your right and one on Your left." 22 But Jesus answered, "You do
not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to
drink?" They said to Him, "We are able." 23 He said to them,
"My cup you shall drink; but to sit on My right and on My left,
this is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by
My Father." 24 And hearing this, the ten became indignant with the
two brothers. 25 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, "You know that
the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise
authority over them. 26 "It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes
to become great among you shall be your servant, 27 and whoever wishes to be first among you shall
be your slave; 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to
serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.’”
I want to say that this introduction is going to
take a fairly long time to get through.
Some of the introductions to different sections of Scripture seem to
take a lot longer than others, and this one will take a while. Now remember we are talking about pride and
humility, and as we look at the these verses we can see a lot of pride, but
very little humility. I want to just go
over some different sections of Scriptures today and talk about different
people who were humble.
Abraham
is the first person and he is known to be a servant and friend of God. “And Abraham replied, "Now behold, I
have ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am but dust and ashes”
(Gen. 18:27). When we read about Abraham’s
son Isaac we see that he did not have a problem dying as a sacrifice to God. I think that Sarah did have a problem with it
as Jewish tradition says that she never spoke to Abraham after that event. Jacob, Isaac’s son said in Gen. 32:10 “I am
unworthy of all the lovingkindness and of all the faithfulness which You have
shown to Your servant; for with my staff only I crossed this Jordan, and
now I have become two companies.” Next
we read of Jacob’s son Joseph who was sold into slavery by his older brothers,
and yet he is one of the characters in the Old Testament where there is no sin
written about him. I am not saying that
He was not a sinner, but that the sins he did commit are not recorded in the
Word of God. In Genesis 50:19-21 we read
what Joseph said towards the end of his life:
“19 But Joseph said to them, "Do not be afraid, for am I in God’s
place? 20 “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for
good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people
alive. 21 “So therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your
little ones." So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.”
Next we move onto Moses, the meekest man on the
earth. He humbly pleaded before the
Lord, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons
of Israel out of Egypt” (Ex. 3:11). I
will close now with something that David said found in 1 Chronicles 29:11-12 “11
"Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the
victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the
earth; Yours is the dominion, O LORD, and You exalt Yourself as head over all. 12
“Both riches and honor come from You, and You rule over all, and in Your
hand is power and might; and it lies in Your hand to make great and to
strengthen everyone.”
4/28/2023 8:34 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment