SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/02/2025 9:33 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 “The Content of His Commission”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 2
Timothy 4:2a
Message
of the verse: “preach the word;”
I
begin this SD by talking about how Timothy was to be like “John the Baptist
[who] came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, ‘Repent, for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 3:1-2), He then goes on to say in John
1:29 “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
Now what does Paul mean when he uses the word, Word? It seems that he doubtless means the entire
written Word of God, His complete revealed truth, which the apostle also calls “the
whole purpose of God” in Acts 20:27 and which he has just referred to as “the
sacred writings’ and the “Scripture” (2 Timothy 3:15-16).
Now
this paragraph makes me think about how the Bible was written. “For the
prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as
they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21.) Paul later writes the following
in 2 Timothy 3:16 “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for
teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; He then goes on to write “so
that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” The Scripture is “God breathed” and so even
though we have different versions of the Bible we can trust it because it was
inspired by the Holy Spirit of God as He moved men to write what He wanted them
to write, and it is amazing to me that the Holy Spirit would use these men to
write in their own style, yet inspired by Him.
It is true that a preacher cannot continue to faithfully preach
and teach the Word of God unless he carefully protects its truth as we see when
we read “O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you,” and Paul had warned
in his precious letter to Timothy, “avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the
opposing arguments of what is falsely called ‘knowledge’” (1 Timothy 6:20). It was near the beginning of this second
letter he admonished, “Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard
from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus” and “Guard, through
the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you”
(2 Tim. 1:13-14). Paul also implored
Timothy to handle “accurately the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15), because truth
that is poorly retained, guarded, and handled inevitably will be poorly taught.
John MacArthur writes: “After declaring the marvelous truth first proclaimed by the prophet Joel (2:32) that ‘whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved,’ Paul asks rhetorically in his letter to the church at Rome, ‘How then shall they [unbelievers] call upon Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent?’ Again quoting from the Old Testament, this time from Isaiah 52:7, the apostle then exults, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring glad tidings of good things! (Rom. 10:13-15).
Of his own preaching Paul said,
25 Of this church I was made a minister
according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that
I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, 26 that is,
the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations,
but has now been manifested to His saints, 27 to whom God willed to make known what is the
riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you,
the hope of glory. 28 We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every
man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. 29 For
this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily
works within me.
“There
are gifted orators who can sway an audience with the power of their persuasive
rhetoric. There are men who are erudite,”
(well read) “knowledgeable, well-trained and worldly –wise, who can cause other
men to change their minds about certain matters. There are men who can relate moving stories
that tug at a hearer’s heart and move him emotionally. Throughout the history of the church,
including our own time, God has chosen to endow some ministers with such
abilities. But God also has chosen not
to bless every faithful preacher in those particular ways. Nevertheless, He charges tem with the same
task of preaching His Word, because the spiritual power and effectiveness of
preaching does not rest in the skill of the speaker but in the truth.”
I
certainly can relate to what MacArthur wrote in the above paragraph, as I have
written on many occasions how the Lord called me to Himself when I was an
unbeliever. I was taking a vacation by
myself five months after my wife and I were married, as I visited a friend of
mine who was living near Orlando Florida.
My intentions were certainly not godly as I visited him and his
girlfriend. After arriving there my
friend allowed me to listen to several tapes his former boss had given to him,
as his former boss had recently came to know the Lord as his Savior and Lord. Hal Lindsey an evangelist who had a similar
kind of background but was now preaching the Word had recently written a book
entitled “The Late Great Planet Earth” and his messages were about what he had
written in that book. It was while
listening to those messages that the Lord saved me and changed my life
completely. That was 51 years ago this
past January 23rd. I was
afraid of what was going to happen to this world and how it would end and in
those messages I was given the answer from Lindsey’s preaching, and that is
what the Lord used to bring me to Himself in salvation. I will never forget that week I spent in
Orlando, and so I called my wife and asked her to join me there and in April of
that year she gave her life to Jesus Christ, and then the story continues as we
had two children and at an early age they both accepted the Lord. Our daughter and her husband had four
children and all of them were saved at an early age. Our son has three children and they also came
to know the Lord at an early age. The
sad part of this story is that my friend who at that time said he and his
girlfriend who are now married turned away from the Lord, as he was never a
true believer. With this story I will
end my Spiritual Diary for today.
Spiritual
Meaning for my Life Today:
It was just a good reminder how powerful the Word of God is, and how much I
enjoy studying His Word each day.
My
Steps of Faith for Today: I trust that the Holy Spirit of God will
continue to use the Spiritual Diaries that I write each day for the glory of
the Lord.
7/2/2025 10:44 AM
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