PT-11 “Truth: “The Test of Christian Hospitality” (2 John 9-13)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/18/2025 9:22 PM

My Worship Time                    Focus: Focus:  PT-11 “Truth: “The Test of Christian Hospitality”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                         Reference:  2 John 9-13

            Message of the verses:  “9 Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.

    10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; 11 for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.

             12 Though I have many things to write to you, I do not want to do so with paper and ink; but I hope to come to you and speak face to face, so that your joy may be made full. 13 The children of your chosen sister greet you.

 

            I continue to quote from John MacArthur’s sermon in this evening’s Spiritual Diary, and just to let you know with this SD we are well over ¾ through this rather long sermon.  It is best to look at the previous Spiritual Diaries on this sermon so that you can follow what is being taught in this sermon.

            “John was a real shepherd. He was protecting his flock. Quickest way to contribute to their failure is to shut the door and give them no affirming greeting at all. Their mouths, Titus 1 says, must be stopped. And the church today is not willing to do this - not willing to do this. How serious is this? You say, “Well, I should do it for the love of the truth.” Right. “I should do it for the honor of God.” Right. But John goes beyond that. Look at verse 11: “For the one” - not the one who lets him in the house - “the one who gives him” a what? - “a greeting participates in his evil deeds.”

            “Wow. Koinōnos with him, fellowships, shares, partakes literally in the evil works of him. That’s amazing. If you even show hospitality, beyond that, if you even give him an affirming greeting, that’s a tight, narrow responsibility. Don’t do anything to acknowledge them as Christians.

            “You know, the government - government locks up criminals. Why? Why does the government put people in prison, people who kill and plunder and rape and steal? Why does the government put them in prison? For their rehabilitation? Not really. Doesn’t do that. But they put them in prison, you hear this all the time, “I just want to see that guy off the streets.” You put them in jail to protect people, right? Put them in there to protect everybody else. The government understands the destruction these people do physically.

            “And yet I wonder if the church understands the destruction that liars and deceivers do spiritually. Church must never aid or abet or encourage spiritual criminals in any way. So unmistakably, we are commanded to live and love in the truth, to be loyal to the truth and to look for the truth in all who claim to speak for God.

            “One final thought - or so. Learning the truth. John closes this little letter with the reminder that no matter how much you know, you don’t know enough. Verse 12, “Having many things to write to you” - I love that. “Having many things to write to you, I do not want to do so with paper and ink, but I hope to come to you and speak face to face, that your joy may be made full.” John sort of signs off here, before his final word there in verse 13, by reminding us that there’s more to know.

            “If we’re going to be vigilant, if we’re going to be diligent, if we’re going to be protectors of the truth, if we’re going to be protectors of the sacredness of the church, if we’re going to care for the little lambs and be guardians of the people of God, we’ll never know enough - never know enough. I never cease to be amazed at the nuances and the subtleties of error that just keep coming. So John says, “Having many things to write to you.”

            “By the way, that’s how he closed 3 John. Look at verse 13 in 3 John. “I had many things to write to you, but I’m not willing to write them to you with pen and ink, but I hope to see you shortly and we’ll speak face to face.” It’s the same thing. And it’s appropriate with a short letter to say that, isn’t it? So much more to say. So much more you need to know, dear lady, so much more I want you to know.

            “This is the reality of every growing Christian’s experience. There’s so much more in the vast truth of Scripture to know, you’ve got to go from the milk level of the truth to the meat level of the truth. I know I’ve been doing this a long time, and there’s so much more to know. I don’t know it all, by any stretch of the imagination. I stand like a man in front of the ocean with a bucket full looking at the vast ocean ahead of me and realize the depth and height and breadth and length of the wonder of divine truth. I haven’t begun to even approach grasping it all.”

Lord willing I will finish the copying of this sermon in tomorrow’s SD.  I will then begin to look at third John from MacArthur’s commentary after that.

 

5/18/2025 9:35 PM

"Strong Convictions Built Into A Spiritual Foundation" (2 Tim. 3:14)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/18/2025 8:03 AM

 

My Worship Time                       Focus:  “Strong Convictions Built Into A Spiritual Foundation”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                   Reference:  2 Timothy 3:14

 

            Message of the verse:  “You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them;”

 

            This morning I begin the last section that John MacArthur writes about in his commentary, which means that there will have to be another chapter that he writes that will end this 3^rd chapter of 2 Timothy.  I don’t really know why it was that the Lord caused me to study the last books that John wrote and the last book that Paul wrote, but when one reads these last books one can see some important things that are written in them.  Paul’s last letter to Timothy would happen close to when his life would end, and Johns last letter to a friend in the faith, Gaius, may have been written before or after the book of Revelation, but it certainly was near the end of his life for he was in his 90’s when these books were written, and it is my belief that all of his letters that are found in the Bible were written close to the same time.

 

            John MacArthur begins his commentary on 3:14 by writing “A second characteristic of effective defenders of the faith is that of strong conviction being built into a solid spiritual foundation.  More often than not, such leaders have been reared in a family where God’s Word was loved and exalted, in practice as well as principle.” 

 

            In his sermon he spoke of the fact that both his father and grandfather were preachers of the Word, and now that he is in his 80’s it may be that this will end with him because I have not heard of any of his sons becoming Pastors.

 

            MacArthur goes on “That was Timothy’s heritage.  Near the beginning of this letter, Paul reminded him ‘of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well’ and admonished him ‘to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you’ (1:5-6).  He now repeats the admonition, saying in effect, ‘Unlike the evil men and impostors, about which I just gave warning, you however, are fundamentally different.  Whereas they are unbelievers and are characterized by self-love and its many related sins (vv. 1-9), you belong to the Lord and have emulated the godly virtues I have through God’s grace (vv. 10-11).”

 

            As I think about this last letter that Paul wrote that is found in the Word of God I think how special it was for Timothy to receive Paul’s last letter, so that makes Timothy a very special person that Paul spent a lot of time with teaching him the things that he needed to know in order to become a second generation Pastor as the only Apostle that would be alive after Paul’s death would be John whom I wrote about at the beginning of this SD.

 

            “Like many other verbs in this epistle (see, e. g., ‘abstain,’ 2:19; ‘flee,’ ‘pursue,’ v. 22; ‘refuse,’ v.23), continue translates a present active imperative, which has the force of a command.  Have learned is from mantano, which is related to mathetes (‘disciple’) and carries the connotation of intentional learning by inquiry and observation.  Timothy had not learned from Scripture and from Paul incidentally but by intent.  He had pursued and become convinced of the truths of Scripture—fixed, nonnegotiable truths that are not subject to compromise of dilution.  It was those strong convictions, held with equally strong tenacity, that made Timothy a worthy prospect to follow in the footsteps of Paul.

 

            “Knowing and remembering the godly people from whom he had learned those truths was, in itself, a source of great strength and encouragement.  Whom translates a plural pronoun, indicating Timothy’s obligation to several teachers and examples.  To successfully learn spiritual convictions from others and to hold them as your own, it is necessary not only to hear them clearly taught but to see them consistently lived.”

 

Spiritual Meaning for My Life Today:  I have to say that I have set under some very good Pastors since I became a believer 51+ years ago.  I have also learned much from Pastors like the late Warren Wiersbe, and John MacArthur and others.  People I chose to learn from because I know that they are teaching the Word of God the way God desires it to be taught.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust that the Lord will be with me in a special way in the teaching of our Sunday school class this morning.

 

5/18/2025 8:36 AM

 

PT-10 "Truth: The Test of Christian Hospitality" (2 John 9-13)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/17/2025 9:33 PM

My Worship Time                   Focus: Focus:  PT-10 “Truth: “The Test of Christian Hospitality”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                         Reference:  2 John 9-13

            Message of the verses:  “9 Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.

    10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; 11 for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.

             12 Though I have many things to write to you, I do not want to do so with paper and ink; but I hope to come to you and speak face to face, so that your joy may be made full. 13 The children of your chosen sister greet you.

 

            I continue to quote from John MacArthur’s sermon in this evening’s Spiritual Diary, and just to let you know with this SD we are now over ¾ through this rather long sermon.  It is best to look at the previous Spiritual Diaries on this sermon so that you can follow what is being taught in this sermon.

            “And what  was necessary to be an elder? First Timothy 3, they had to be - end of verse 2 - didaktikos, skilled teachers. So you wouldn’t expect a false teacher to just invade a church. He’s not going to get in here. We have elders who are skilled teachers. Titus 1:9, “Elders are able to hold fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the doctrine and are able both to exhort in sound doctrine and refute those who contradict.” And they can handle the rebellious men, the empty talkers, and deceivers. That’s what elders and pastors do.

            “So they don’t come to the church. That’s where they ultimately end up, that’s where they’d like to end up. They don’t come there first, they go to the home. They want to get you on your front porch. They want to get you through the television or the radio. They want to find their way to those who are vulnerable. In 2 Timothy 3 and verse 5, it says, “These false teachers have a form of godliness without power.”

            “And verse 6 says, “They enter into households and they captivate weak women.” Hmm. It’s what they do. They look for the weak and the sympathetic and tender-hearted and compassionate and embed themselves there and start their divesting of those people’s resources and the confusion of their minds.

            “Don’t let them in your house. “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly.” And this doesn’t apply to new Christians or those who seek a full knowledge of Christ. These people are not learners, they are what? Teachers. The emissaries of deception.

            “But that’s not all it says. They are so dangerous, not only do you not let them in, look at the end of verse 10. “Do not give him a greeting.” Do not give him a greeting.” Saintly Polycarp met a heretic and greeted him with this, “I recognize Satan’s firstborn.” Greeting - greeting is chairein. Means to give a greeting literally means to rejoice. That was the Christian greeting, standard Christian greeting, to rejoice. That is to say to someone, “Rejoice.” In other words, this is a happy occasion to see you, it produces joy. Your presence is a source of joy. Welcome to the fellowship, as an affirmation of solidarity.

            “You don’t ever want to say that to a false teacher and a deceiver and a liar and an emissary of Satan, somebody who’s gone beyond what the Bible teaches about Christ. Don’t ever say that to a false teacher. You say, “Well, that’s narrow.” You bet. You say, “That’s harsh.” You got it right. You say, “That’s unloving.” Absolutely. But nothing is as dangerous as deception because nothing is as precious as truth, right? He’s speaking of dangerous wolves, Acts 20. He’s speaking of thieves in the language of Jesus in John 10 who come to kill and destroy the flock.

            “Any hospitality, any commendation, any acceptance of them would be dangerous exposure to antichrist influences. You can’t overstate this. It would be impossible to overstate this. If you ever put yourself in a position in which you give yourself over to lying teachers, you’re in defiance of this text. You may think they’re academic and you may think there’s something very elite about being a part of some academic environment. The appropriate thing would be to borrow from Polycarp and tell your Christ-denying religious professor, “I recognize Satan’s firstborn when I see him.” Shut the door in their face, John says.”

            I remember when I was young, living with my parents and there was a group of people from a false religious cult, (I won’t name it here), who came around to peddle their poison. They bothered our neighbors so much that our neighbor who was a big man picked the short little man up and set him on the walk and told him not to come back again.

5/17/2025 8:13 PM

 

 

PT-4 "Difficult Experiences" (2 Tim. 3:11-13)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/17/2025 11:13 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  PT-4 “Difficult Experiences”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  2 Timothy 3:11-13

 

            Message of the verses:  “11 persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me! 12 Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 13 But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”

 

            I will get to the end of this section in a moment, but as I look at the title that John MacArthur has chosen to use for this section I cannot help but think of the difficult experiences that my wife is going through at this time in her life.  I have mentioned that on the 25^th of February due to some tests that we knew that she had cancer and this has set off for us some difficult circumstances.  We both know that the Lord is in control of these circumstances, and we  both trust the Lord to use these circumstances to bring glory to Him, but none the less they are difficult to go through.  My wife, like all true believers is in the hands of the Lord and He knows best and will give us both comfort as we face these difficult circumstances.  She has since had surgery which turned out well, but it is believed that there is still some cancer in her body, and for that we covet your prayers as we move forward in finding the best treatment for her.  My feelings about cancer is that it is an evil disease and whenever I read one of the Psalms that are called imprecatory Psalms I can’t help but think of cancer. 

 

            Now back to where we were in commenting on these verses and I will begin with a perhaps stinging quote from John MacArthur’s commentary.  “Self-centered Christians who serve the Lord halfheartedly seldom have to pay a price for their faith.  They are of little threat to Satan’s work because they are of little benefit to Christ’s.

 

            “It is those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus [who] will be persecuted.  The faithful believer should expect persecution and suffering for Christ’s sake.  Not every godly believer will be maligned, imprisoned, tortured, or martyred for his faith. Even Paul did not face unrelieved mistreatment.  But all faithful believers should expect opposition from the world and realize that, when opposition becomes severe enough, they will suffer for their faith, just as did Paul and Timothy.

 

            “Persecution of the godly will continue until the Lord returns, because evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.  These are the very evil men and impostors Paul had vividly described in the first nine verses of this chapter.

 

            “Poneros (evil) refers to malignant character or activity.  In the parable of the sower, Jesus used the word to describe Satan, ‘the evil one [who] comes and snatches away’ the good seed of the Word that is sown in the heart of a hearer (Matt. 13:19).  Impostors translates goes, which literally refers to one who wails or howls.  Because sorcerers, wizards, and magicians commonly use wails in their incantations, the term was sometimes used to describe such people, and hence was used of any deceiver or imposters.  If the Jannes and Jambres of verse 8 were among the magicians of Pharaoh’s court, imposters obviously could here carry the meaning of sorcerer.  But Paul’s warning to Timothy applies to impostors of any sort who pervert God’s Word.

 

            “Such enemies of Christ will proceed from bad to worse.  Paul does not specifically state whether the regression is internal or external, and it seems likely he was referring to both.  As men themselves proceed from bad to worse, so does their influence on others.

 

            “Paul has already given assurance that there are limits to how effective these enemies of the faith can be.  They ‘will not make further progress (v. 9a), because their stupidity eventually becomes apparent to those who know the truth.  ‘Their folly,’ like that of Jannes and Jambres (v.8), ‘will be obvious to all’ (v. 9b).  While they are deceiving others, and being deceived by their own wicked foolishness, the people of God will eventually expose them for what they are.”

 

            I have mentioned many times that the Lord called me to salvation on the 26^th of January, 1974, and what he used to get my attention of the end times, for I was afraid of what will happen at the end of the world, and did not have the correct information to understand.  The Lord used the preaching of Hal Lindsey and his messages from the great book that he wrote back in the early 197’s, “The Late Great Planet Earth” to open my heart to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord.  Well it has been 51+ years later and when one looks at the world now they can see that things are getting worse by the day.  Nuclear war has just been prevented between India and Pakistan a few days go through the efforts of our President, Donald Trump and wars from the proxies of Iran are being defeated by Israel and the United States.  There still could be a war between Iran and Israel, with the help of the United States, and all of these countries in the Middle East are mentioned in what will happen in the end times seem to be aligning up in the place where the Bible says they will be.  My point is that things are getting more evil each and every day as we move toward the end of the Church Age, which will end with the Rapture of the church, and then shortly after that the worse time in human history will begin in what the Bible calls the Tribulation Period, which will last seven years and will end with Christ returning to planet earth along with all the raptured saints to end the war, and then the Lord will set up the millennial kingdom.  After that there will be a short war and then it will be over very fast, and then there will be what the Bible calls “The Great White Throne Judgment” where only unbelievers will be in attendance, all will be then sent into hell forever, the world as we know it will be destroyed as seen in 2 Peter 3:10 “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.”  Now notice the highlighted word elements and this word means “basic building blocks” and we know that the atom is the basic building block of all creation.  The atom is held together by the Lord Jesus Christ and once He releases His control over the atom the entire universe will be blown up in one gigantic nuclear bomb.  The will be a new heaven and a new earth that God will create and this is where eternity will begin.  Now here is what one must do in order to gain heaven and miss hell and thus miss all the torment of hell.  First realize that you are a sinner, you were born a sinner and you sin because you were born a sinner.  Next realize that God hates sin and sent His Son to planet earth to deal with sin by dying on the cross almost 2000 years ago.  Next admit that you are a sinner, and that Christ died for your sin, and then ask Him into your heart to forgive you of all your sin and He will do that.  You will then at that moment become a born-again believer in Jesus Christ and will one day be with Christ in eternity.

 

5/17/2025 12:04 PM     

PT-9: "The Test of Christian Hospitality" (2 John 9-13)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/16/2025 9:33 PM

My Worship Time                      Focus: Focus:  PT-9 “Truth: “The Test of Christian Hospitality”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                         Reference:  2 John 9-13

            Message of the verses:  “9 Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.

    10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; 11 for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.

             12 Though I have many things to write to you, I do not want to do so with paper and ink; but I hope to come to you and speak face to face, so that your joy may be made full. 13 The children of your chosen sister greet you.

 

            I continue to quote from John MacArthur’s sermon in this evening’s Spiritual Diary, and just to let you know with this SD we are now ¾ through this rather long sermon.  It is best to look at the previous Spiritual Diaries on this sermon so that you can follow what is being taught in this sermon.

 

            “Listen. You can’t be saved without the gospel. You can’t even be saved with a warped gospel. You can’t be saved without believing in Jesus Christ. You can’t even be saved without believing in the one true Christ.

            “Galatians 1, Paul says - and it can’t be, again, argued what he means because it is crystal clear. “Even though we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you,” let him be what? - “let him be damned.” And in case you didn’t get that. Verse 9, “As we said before, I say again, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you’ve received, let him be damned.” You can’t get there without the gospel and you can’t get there with a warped gospel.

            “Anyone who doesn’t acknowledge the true Christ and the true gospel does not know God, does not have God, no matter what he claims. The one who abides in the teaching of Christ about Christ, he has both the Father and the Son.

            “You know, you really have to look for this today. I mean you have to have your theological magnifying glass with the little nuances people want to use to somehow escape a real assessment. The one who is faithful to a biblical Christology, the one who menō, remains in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. You don’t get the Father without the Son. You don’t get the Son disconnected from the Father. There’s no possibility of knowing God apart from knowing Christ. This is the strongest statement on gospel exclusivity anywhere. It’s a package deal. You don’t know the Father except by the Son. “No man comes unto the Father but by me.”

            “So that is the principle of looking for the truth. And when you meet someone who has perverted it, deviated from it, added to it, gone beyond it, act wisely - act wisely. And how would you act wisely? Verse 10, “If anyone comes to you,” and they did, this is a - “A” with the indicative, a likely condition. Probably happened to this lady, as I said, as to many through the centuries and many even today, and even us as they kind of come into our house through the television and radio and whatever and sometimes even knocking on the door.

            ‘“If anyone comes to you and does not bear this teaching” - what teaching? The teaching of Christ, that is about Him by Him - “do not receive him into your house.” This is not someone coming to learn from you or you’d never be able to witness to an unbeliever. This is someone coming to teach you lies. You understand the difference? We answer the questions of the ignorant. We answer the questions of those who want to know. We don’t affirm or give a platform to the deceivers. The fastest way to put them out of business is to make sure that you never receive them.

            “If anyone comes to you - I’m not talking about someone ignorant who wants to understand the truth. We’re talking about an apostate, lying deceiver looking for a foothold embedded in the fellowship of believers to make money off the unsuspecting while he plies his evil lies. Don’t receive him into your house. He could have said, “Don’t receive him in your church.” That’s true, but then churches were not the first place they would go. Why? Because churches were protected by what group of men? Elders.”

            I just have to say that this is a wonderful sermon, wonderful because it explains some very important things that John wrote all the way back from the end of the first century, and it is so needed for us today.  I have mentioned on a number of times from my Spiritual Diaries that a bank teller before they begin their job has to know everything to be known about real money, and the reason they learn about real money (bills) is so when a false one comes across their bank window they know something is wrong with it and therefore know it is counterfeit.  Now as a believer, a true believer in Jesus Christ you have to know, you have to learn the truths of the gospel, know it so well that when you hear something or someone who is preaching a false gospel you know it is wrong, and you know it because you know the truth.  So my advice is for whoever reads this SD or anyone that I write is to learn your Bible by reading and studying it each and every day.

5/16/2025 9:50 PM

 

 

PT-3 "Difficult Experiences" (2 Tim. 3:11-13)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/16/2025 8:25 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  PT-3 “Difficult Experiences”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  2 Timothy 3:11-13

 

            Message of the verses:  “11 persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me! 12 Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 13 But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”

 

            Let us begin at some verses which speak of how Timothy often shared sufferings with Paul.  “13 But when the Jews of Thessalonica found out that the word of God had been proclaimed by Paul in Berea also, they came there as well, agitating and stirring up the crowds. 14 Then immediately the brethren sent Paul out to go as far as the sea; and Silas and Timothy remained there. 15 Now those who escorted Paul brought him as far as Athens; and receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they left.”

 

            Now we look at Acts 18:6 “6 But when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his garments and said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.’”  Timothy was with Paul when this verse took place.

 

            John MacArthur writes that “Timothy was with Paul during many, if not all, of the sufferings that happened to [him] at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra.  Those three cities were in Timothy’s home province of Galatia, the first place during Paul’s missionary journeys where Luke mentions hostility against him (see Acts 13:45, 50).  Lystra was Timothy’s hometown, where he doubtless saw Paul heal the man who had been born crippled and where he witnessed the apostle’s being stoned and left for dead (Acts 14:8-10, 19).  During his first encounter with Paul and for the next several decades, Timothy had unparalleled privilege of living beside and working with this man of great courage, resolution, and character.”  When one looks at these words MacArthur describing Paul, it is no wonder that it is said of the Apostle Paul that other than Jesus Christ Paul lived the most holy life, and he suffered so much for the cause of Christ.  Believers can learn so much from the life of the Apostle Paul as seen in the book of Acts and also in the many letters that he wrote that are included in the Word of God.

 

            MacArthur goes on “When this letter was written, Timothy himself was facing opposition and ridicule, the normal preludes of sufferings.  As far as we know he did not suffer to the same degree as his mentor, but with the apostle he could say to those to whom he ministered, ‘If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer’ (2 Cor. 1:6).  He also could say with Paul, ‘I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us’ (Rom. 8:18) and ‘I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong’ (2 Cor. 12:10).

 

            “While in Athens, Paul sent Timothy, his ‘brother and God’s fellow worker in the gospel of Christ,’ back to Thessalonica, ‘to strengthen and encourage’ believers there, in order that ‘no man may be disturbed by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that we have been destined for this.  For indeed when we were with you, we kept telling you in advance that we were going to suffer affliction; and so it came to pass, as you know’ (1 Thess. 3:2-4).

 

            “Yet, ‘with all those persecutions I endured, Paul continued, I can say with that out of them all the Lord delivered me!’  He could proclaim with David, ‘Many are the afflictions of the righteous; but the Lord delivers him out of them all’ (Ps. 34:19).  He could say with Shadrack, Meshach, and Abednego, ‘Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us’ (Dan. 3:17).  Timothy knew God had delivered Paul, and that knowledge should have reinforced his courage to stand against the apostate teachers and persecutors.

 

            “Paul and Timothy were not exceptions, because all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.  That also was Jesus’ promise, ‘If the world hates you,’ He said,

 

you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. 19 “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. 20 “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. 21 “But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me.  

 

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am to trust the Lord to do the work in my life that will cause me to trust Him more for what He is doing in my life for the cause of Christ.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  My wife and I continue to seek direction from the Lord in order to be able to find the person or persons who will treat the remaining cancer in her body so that it can be removed.  We desire in all of this to bring glory to the Lord.

 

5/16/2025 9:05 AM

PT-2 "Difficult Experiences" (2 Tim. 3:11-13)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/15/2025 9:48 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  PT-2 “Difficult Experiences”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  2 Timothy 3:11-13

 

            Message of the verses:  “11 persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me! 12 Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 13 But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”

 

            I begin this SD by saying that I did not get too far into these verses because something came up that I thought was very important for me to write, and so we will actually be beginning from the beginning in today’s SD.

 

            I talked about how persecution that Paul went through made him stronger and stronger in giving out the message of the gospel to wherever he went, and now Paul was encouraging his son in the faith to learn from this, something that I believe that Timothy did learn. 

 

            MacArthur writes “Diogmos (persecutions) is from the verb dioko, which has the literal meaning of putting to flight.  Because of their refusal to compromise or cease proclaiming the gospel, both Paul and Timothy often had been put to flight as fugitives from the persecutions of both Jews and pagans.”  One can read through the last chapters of the book of Acts to see how this played out.  The first half of the book of Acts is mostly about Peter and the things that he did for the cause of Christ while the second half moves into the life of Saul of Tarsus, who became the Apostle Paul, and his ministry to the Gentiles with his three missionary journeys and then his imprisonment and finally his trip to Rome.

 

            Now before Paul was converted to Christianity Paul was a persecutor of the church as mentioned earlier.  Let us look at some verses from Acts 9:1-2 to see this:  “1 Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, 2 and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.”

 

            Now we will move forward much later into Paul’s life where while under trial for preaching the gospel he said the following in Acts 22:4 “"I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons.”

 

            Paul went from being the persecutor to the persecuted, which began after his conversion seen in the 9^th chapter of Acts.  MacArthur writes “Soon after his conversion, while he was preaching the gospel in Damascus and probably after his three years in Arabia (Gal. 1:17), ‘the Jews plotted together to do away with him’ (Acts 9:23).  From that day on, persecution was an almost constant companion.  In Pisidian Antioch, where many Jews believed the gospel, others there ‘were filled with jealousy, and began contradicting the things spoken by Paul, and were blaspheming’ (Acts 13:45).  Many years before he wrote the second letter to Timothy, Paul could say of his own sufferings, as compared to certain Christian leaders who boasted ‘according to the flesh,…’  

 

22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. 23 Are they servants of Christ? — I speak as if insane — I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. 24 Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. 26 I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; 27 I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure (2 Cor. 11:22-27).

 

“Besides suffering ‘from such external things,’ he also suffered because of ‘the daily pressure upon [him] of concern for all the churches’ (v. 28).”

 

            With that I conclude this second section from these verses and Lord willing I will pick it up tomorrow as in that SD I will begin to talk more about Timothy.

 

Spiritual Meaning for My life Today:  The Bible tells us that after suffering then joy will come and this is seen to be true in most if not all of the characters in the Word of God. 

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I continue to trust the Lord to guide my wife and me to show us where she can get the best care for her cancer treatment.

 

5/15/2025 10:32 AM

 

           

PT-7 "Truth: "The Test of Christian Hospitality" (2 John 9-13)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/14/2025 7:36 PM

My Worship Time                      Focus: Focus:  PT-7 “Truth: “The Test of Christian Hospitality”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                         Reference:  2 John 9-13

            Message of the verses:  “9 Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.

    10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; 11 for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.

             12 Though I have many things to write to you, I do not want to do so with paper and ink; but I hope to come to you and speak face to face, so that your joy may be made full. 13 The children of your chosen sister greet you.

 

            I continue to quote from John MacArthur’s sermon in this evening’s Spiritual Diary, and just to let you know with this SD we are now over half way through this rather long sermon.  It is best to look at the previous Spiritual Diaries on this sermon so that you can follow what is being taught in this sermon.

 

            “Therefore” - verse 19 - “we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified.” You can’t make your life right with God by any kind of religious action. You can’t get there from there. No one gets to God on his own because he can’t.

            “Now, 2 Thessalonians 1. And this is the last one and then we’ll go to our text. Second Thessalonians 1 and verse 7, middle of the verse. It talks about when Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire. It’s talking about His return. And verse 8 defines this very clearly. “He will deal out retribution” - or punishment - “to those who do not know God,” and then a modifying, equalizing phrase, “who do not know God,” or another way to say it, “who do not obey” - what? - “the gospel of our Lord Jesus.” You don’t know God if you don’t obey the gospel. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction.

            “Now, do you understand why I’m so passionate about this? We only have one message! Here we are at the greatest point in church history in terms of being able to deliver that message, and we don’t know what it is. Or we think people might be offended by it, and so we want to change it. Or the easy way out, aw, they don’t need it anyway. Any effort to confuse the gospel, any effort that ends up with an embarrassment about the gospel, or any effort that says you don’t need the gospel doesn’t come from God, does it? It comes from the enemy of men’s souls.”

            Now this is why I work hard on putting three different Spiritual Diaries on my blogs each day, and then the Holy Spirit of God sends them around the world.  There have been over 873,000 views from around the world on my over 11,000 Spiritual Diaries that are on my two blogs, and recently I count over 30 countries where people are looking at these Spiritual Diaries, and that says to me that the gospel is going around the world each and every day.  I truly believe that the Lord has called me to put these Spiritual Diaries onto my two blogs, and then I believe it is the Spirit of God who sends them to where He wants them to go for the glory of God.

           

            “Now please turn to 2 John. This passage has to be added to the list I’ve just given you. Second John 9, “Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God. The one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.” Can it be any clearer than that? Even if you deviate from the biblical teaching of Christ, if you do not abide, remain in the teaching of Christ, you do not have God. This seals the case. Salvation, knowing God, having God requires the truth about Christ being believed.

            “Now, this brief letter to a Christian lady and her children is a call to all Christians to live in the truth. And I’ve sort of poured my heart out on these last three and then this message, telling you that there’s nothing more important than the truth and we’re all in a battle to fight to protect it. Both 2 John and 3 John emphasize the centrality of the truth.

            “And do you remember the setting? This is written to a lady and her children about how to live in the truth and love in the truth and be loyal to the truth. And what really prompted this letter was the issue of Christian hospitality. As I’ve been telling you, in those times there were preachers who traveled around to the churches to preach the gospel and to bring the truth of God to the people of God. And the only way they could do that would be to be received into the homes. Inns were unacceptable, dangerous places, immoral places, and so people opened their homes.

            “In fact, the Bible lays down hospitality as a very important part of Christian life. One of the dangers, of course, was that false teachers knew about this, and they wanted to get in too, just like they want to get into Christian radio, Christian television, Christian publications, et cetera. I asked one of the great publishers in America why he published a heretical book and he looked at me like, “What do you mean? We publish everything.” Didn’t even understand the question.

            “These people want to get in everywhere. They don’t want to operate outside the Kingdom, they want to operate as much inside as they can. So they push their Trojan Horse through the city gates and then let loose the damaging army of error. And what happened was, in the early church, false teachers pretending to represent Christ would travel around - it was a great gig - to make a living. You went in, you stayed with somebody, ate their food, they took an offering for you, and you went to the next place, and you just kept getting more money and more money as you went along. And at the time, of course, you were representing Satan and undermining the truth and damaging the lives of people.”

            Lord willing more in tomorrow’s SD.

5/14/2025 7:57 PM

 

 

PT-1 "Difficult Experiences" (2 Timothy 3:11-13)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/14/2025 11:58 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  PT-1 “Difficult Experiences”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  2 Timothy 3:11-13

 

            Message of the verses:  “11 persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me! 12 Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 13 But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”

 

            I have just posted a Spiritual Diary on my other blog which came from my study of Psalm 34, and in that Spiritual Diary I wrote about a butterfly and that story goes well with what Paul is telling to his son in the faith, Timothy.

 

            “It makes me sad and also it makes me angry when I see on TV from time to time that a “preacher” will come on and say that if you send me some money then I will pray over your letter and the Lord will heal you.  I have also heard them say that once you become a believer that your life will be wonderful and that you will not have any more problems.  These are lies that come from the enemy.  To illustrate what I am talking about I want to tell a story about a butterfly and the struggle that it takes for a butterfly to get out of the cocoon.  This story begins with a worm and the worm will begin its life eating and will continue to eat and then it will be time for the worm to make a cocoon for itself.  We can see in this story something that pictures a person who is born into this world and then is transformed into a new life once they realize that he is a sinner and then believes in his heart that Christ died for their sins and we see in 2 Cor 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”  Now back to the butterfly and we mentioned that it is a struggle for the butterfly to get out of the cocoon and this is a good thing for the struggle will make it strong in order for it to accomplish the things that butterflies do.  If someone would see the butterfly struggling and decide that it would be better for them to help it out of the cocoon then the butterfly would probably die because it would not have the strength to live because it did not build up its strength by getting out of the cocoon on its own.  Now what can we learn from this story is actually seen in this section of Psalm 34?  We can see that God allows us to go through difficult times, we have seen this when we looked at the book of Job, and we know that God has a plan for our lives and will see us through the difficult times so that we can bring glory to Him, and also so we can help others who will go through perhaps the same trouble that we are going through.  Paul writes about this in 2 Cor. 1: 3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. 6 But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer.”

 

            Struggling is not fun, and never will be but the truth is that God can use struggling to make you like a butterfly in this story just seen in this SD.  Paul would have never been the man that he became in the Lord without going through struggles.  When the Lord called Paul while he was going up to Damascus where He blinded Paul for three days, and then the Lord called a man to go and place his hands on him so that his eyes would be opened.  Here is the story from Acts 9 beginning in verse 10.  “10 Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." And he said, "Here I am, Lord." 11 And the Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying, 12 and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight." 13 But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to Your saints at Jerusalem; 14 and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name." 15 But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; 16 for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake." 17 So Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying his hands on him said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." 18 And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight, and he got up and was baptized; 19 and he took food and was strengthened.”

 

            The highlighted portion of the verses above is the point that I want to make and now at the end of his life Paul is telling Timothy that he suffered much for the cause of Christ and now Timothy will be taking his place, he too will suffer for the cause of Christ.

 

Spiritual Meaning for my Life Today:  Suffering for the cause of Christ is what believers may have to do, but suffering can cause a person to grow in the Lord.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord for wisdom in taking the next step in what will be the next step in dealing with the cancer issues that my wife has.  The surgery was successful, but there is still more steps to make sure it will not return.

 

5/14/2025 12:25 PM