SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/27/2025 8:18 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-3 “The Preeminence of the Lord”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
2 Timothy 2:8
Message of the verse: “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to my gospel.”
I continue looking at this verse with the help of
John MacArthur and first of all talk about what our Lord promised difficulty: “22 “You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is
the one who has endured to the end who will be saved. 23 "But whenever they persecute you in one
city, flee to the next; for truly I say to you, you will not finish going
through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes. 24 “A disciple is
not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master” (Matt. 10:22-24). Now I have been going over my study from the
book of Ester, a story that every time I read or study it shows me that God is
in control. Many of those who read these
Spiritual Diaries that I write will be familiar with the book of Ester, a book
in the Bible that does not mention God in it but His fingerprints are all over
the book. I am going to quote from my
Spiritual Diary from the 8th chapter of Ester something that Dr.
Warren Wiersbe wrote that ties in with what we are looking at here: “God doesn’t always give this kind of
a ‘happy ending’ to everybody’s story.
Today, not all faithful Christians are promoted and given special
honors. Some of them get fired because
of their stand for Christ! God hasn’t
promised that we’ll be promoted and made rich, but He assured us that He’s in
control of all circumstances and that He will write the last chapter of the
story. If God doesn’t promote us here on
earth, He certainly will when we get to glory.”
I cannot answer how some believers are not persecuted like others, but I
can say that if we take a stand for Christ in our everyday life that there will
be some who desire to bring harm to us, which is what Jesus is saying in these
verses form Matthew 10:22-24 seen above.
John MacArthur writes “Paul is not speaking of remembering the resurrection, important as that is, but rather of remembering Jesus Christ, who is alive because of the resurrection, having been risen from the dead. We do not serve a past event or a merely historical person. Jesus did indeed live a human life and die a human death. But we worship and serve Him because He is no longer dead but alive. We remember and worship and serve the living Jesus Christ.”
Now it is by His resurrection that Jesus Christ
became “the first-born from the dead; so that He Himself might come to have
first place [preeminence] in everything’ (Col. 1:18). So not only that, however; for our sakes, He
also became “the first-born among many brethren” (Rom. 8:29), in order that we
might be raised and live with Him through all eternity, and to that I can say
that I am very much looking forward too.
Now as “the general assembly and church of the first-born who are
enrolled in heaven” (Heb. 12:23). That
is the hope of all believers, and remember that in this case the word “hope” is
a noun, and not a verb, which is important to understand.
I want to quote one more paragraph from MacArthur’s
commentary and then Lord willing will finish this section in tomorrow’s SD.
“When we remember Christ as our resurrected Lord, we
focus on His nature as God and His role as Savior. Through His death and resurrection, Christ
broke the shackles of sin and of its wages, death, which is the greatest weapon
of Satan. When we trusted in Him, He
became our Savior and our Lord, breaking the power of sin, of
death and of Satan in our own lives. What greater motivation for service to Him
could there be than to serve the One who conquered death and did it for us
(John 14:19)?” “"After
a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me;
because I live, you will live also.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today:
It is wonderful to remember the resurrected Lord knowing that because He
lives that I will live with Him in heaven someday. What He did for me is something that on my
own could never do, and that truly is love, and I am thankful beyond measure
for that.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
Because He lives I will live also and that means that I am to happily
tell others what the Lord has done for me so they too can receive the
forgiveness that only can come from Him.
1/27/2025 8:47
AM
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