Sunday, October 27, 2024

PT-1 "Availability" (Matt. 28:16)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/27/2024 7:54 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                 Focus:  PT-1 “Availability”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Matthew 28:16

 

            Message of the verses:  “But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated.”

 

            I want to repeat what I wrote at the end of my last SD to help us to see where we will be going:         “In the final message of Christ reported by Matthew, Jesus gives five explicit or implicit elements that are necessary for His followers to fulfil their supreme mission on earth—to reach the mountain peak of their calling, as it were.  These essential elements may be summarized as availability, worship, submission, obedience, and power.”

 

            I want to talk about what the first three elements for effectively fulfilling the church’s mission and they are attitudes, and the first one implied in the fact that the eleven disciples were where the Lord had told them to be.

 

            The following is a statement that someone astutely observed many years ago, which has to do with service to the Lord:  “The greatest ability is availability.”  The most talented and gifted Christian is useless to God if he is not available to be used by God, just as God’s greatest blessings are not available to those who are not present to receive them.

 

            MacArthur writes “Faithful discipleship does not begin with knowing where you will be serving the Lord or in what capacity.  It does not start with having a clear call to a certain ministry, or occupation, or place of service.  It always begins with simply being available to God, putting all reservations and preconceptions aside.”

 

            Now think about this as it is important for us to understand and it has to do with what happened in the garden as the eleven disciples had not received the blessing of seeing the resurrected Jesus because, unlike the faithful women, they were not there.  However no, the eleven were where Jesus wanted them to be, and so consequently they received His Great Commission and His great promise.

 

            MacArthur then writes:  “Both before and after the resurrection Jesus said He would meet His disciples in Galilee (see Matt. 26:32; 28:7, 10).  He had called a great conclave of His followers for the purpose of commissioning them to reach the world in His name, and now they were gathered at the appointed place.

 

            “We are not told when or how the Lord specified the exact time and place in Galilee where they were to gather, but they were now at the particular mountain which Jesus had designated on some previous occasion.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I really like the term availability as it has great meaning to me, to be available to do what the Lord wants me to do for the cause of Christ when He desires me to be there.  My passion is to be available to write my Spiritual Diaries each and every day in order to put them onto the internet on my blogs for people to read.  I pray each day after putting these SD’s on my blogs that God would use them to bring people to Christ in order for them to be saved.  Next to cause believers to grow in their walk with the Lord, and then for revival to come upon believers, and then, and this is important, that the Holy Spirit will send these Spiritual Diaries around the world to bring glory to the Lord.  Finally, and I always mention if it is God’s will on this last one, and that is that the Holy Spirit would use one of these Spiritual Diaries to bring salvation to the last person in the Church age in order for the rapture to take place.  I am very much looking forward to that event.

 

            My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust that the Lord will use these SD’s to accomplish His will, and I trust that our time in Sunday school this morning will be profitable.

 

10/27/2024 8:23 AM

             

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