PT-1 “Jesus Is The Source Of Truth” (Luke 5:1-3)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/23/2026 11:54 AM

My Worship Time                                                     Focus:  PT-1 “Jesus Is The Source Of Truth”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                    Reference:  Luke 5:1-3)

            Message of the verses:  “1Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret; 2and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. 3And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little distance from the land. And He sat down and continued teaching the crowds from the boat.”

            This morning I begin to look at these verses with the help of John MacArthur’s commentary, and I do need to mention that this may take a number of SD’s to get through it, but hopefully all who read it will learn and grow in the Lord as a result of reading it.

            The first thing we want to look at is the phrase now it happens, and this indicates that an indefinite amount of time had passed since the events that were recorded in Luke 4:38-44.  It is not know what happened during that time period.  We do know that the Lord was still in Galilee, and according to Luke 4:44 He was preaching, healing, and also casting out demons (vv. 40-41), which, understandably, resulted in large crowds following Him as seen in verses (42; cf. 4. 14:5; 5:15; 6:17; 7:11-12; 24:8, 42, 45; 9:11, 37; 11:14, 29;12:1, 54; 14:25).  MacArthur adds “Writing later in the first century, the Jewish historian Josephus estimated the population of Galilee at about three million, which allows for the vast size of the crowds that followed Jesus.)  In a day when no media existed, gifted communicators drew huge crowds, and Jesus was obviously unparalleled (John 7:46).”

(John 7:46)

“46  The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!”

            Now as I read about all of the healings that Jesus did, and of course many of them were not told about, but many were the ones that the Holy Spirit wanted to put into the Word of God.  What I am wondering about is how many of those healed became true believers in Jesus Christ, for we read in the book of Acts that after Jesus had returned into heaven that there were only 120 people in this room where they were told to wait until the Holy Spirit would come upon them.  They did wait and once that event happened the disciples went out into the city of Jerusalem when Peter gave the very first sermon of the church age; (Acts 2:41).

(Acts 2:41)

“41  So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.”

            Now think about this for a moment, think about the church going from 120 to an addition of 3,000 people who just received Christ as their Lord and Savior, but as mentioned when Jesus was preaching and doing miracles it seems to me that for the most part that those who received healing did not truly become believers.  I think about the young blind man in the 9^th chapter of John’s gospel and we know from that story that he truly did become a believer.  The demoniac that is seen in different Gospels, and he became a true believer.  Think about two other times when Jesus feed the five thousands, and then the 4000 and we are not clear as to any of them being truly saved.  After the feeding of the 5000 the people tried to come and make Jesus their King so that as they went out and would fight against the Romans, they would not have to worry about being fed, and if someone got killed then Jesus could bring them back to life to go out and fight another day.  These people had it wrong as to why Jesus came to earth, as He came to teach and preach, but most of all to die on the cross for the salvation of those who would come to Him, asking that their sins would be forgiven so that they then could have eternal life.  As I was studying about the movements that were and are still going on, and I am talking about healings it seems to me that the most important thing that should be going on is the preaching of the Word of God and not about healings, for if not many became believers when Jesus was on earth teaching, preaching and healing many, many people that not many of them would get saved, how many will become saved from this movement that is going on.  When I first became a believer and was introduced to this kind of charismatic movement the friend that that was mentoring me told me that God heals you every time except the last time.  I think that I will end this SD for this morning and hopefully pick up where I am leaving of in this evening’s SD.

Spiritual Meaning for My Life today:  It is my desire to tell the truth about what I write and put on my Spiritual Diaries, and then allow the Holy Spirit of God to use what I write to bring honor and glory to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I am trusting the Lord to led me to the right people that will be able to help my wife as she battles the cancer in her body.  I know that all of us, including believers and non-believers have an expiration date, and we don’t know when it will be, but I believe we are to continue to do what we can when we are ill to have the illness taken care of and leave the results up to the Lord.

5/23/2026 12:34 PM

 

“Intro to ‘Characteristics of Jesus’ Divinity’” (Luke 5:1-11)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/22/2026 9:26 PM

My Worship Time                                        Focus: “Intro to ‘Characteristics of Jesus’ Divinity’”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                    Reference:  Luke 5:1-11

            Message of the verses:  “1Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret; 2and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. 3And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little distance from the land. And He sat down and continued teaching the crowds from the boat. 4Now when He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” 5Simon responded and said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.” 6And when they had done this, they caught a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to tear; 7so they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, to the point that they were sinking. 8But when Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” 9For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken; 10and likewise also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not fear; from now on you will be catching people.” 11When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.”

            I will now quote the introduction to these verses from John MacArthur’s commentary.

            “The last few centuries have seen an enormous number of books written about the Lord Jesus Christ.  The nineteenth century quest for the ‘historical Jesus’ saw countless explanations written about Jesus.  Most were generated from a rationalistic, naturalistic perspective, in a purported attempt to get behind the fantasy biblical ‘Christ of faith’ to the nondivine, nonsupernatural real ‘Jesus of history.’ Their authors’ antisupernatural presuppositions controlled their research, as I. Howard Marshall notes:

Many of these investigators believed that the real Jesus must have been an ordinary person with nothing supernatural or divine about him.  His life must have conformed to ordinary human patterns, and be explicable in purely human categories.  For such people the phrase ‘the historical Jesus’ clearly meant a non-supernatural Jesus. (I Believe in the Historical Jesus [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1977], 110-11).

“It should come as no surprise that those who began with an antisuper-natural bias wound und with a nonsupernatural Jesus.  Marshall goes on to note that

In every case the picture of Jesus was of Jesus clearly fashioned by a nineteenth-century artist.  The process reached its climax in the so-called ‘Liberal Jesus,’ a somewhat inoffensive teacher proclaiming ‘the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man.’…The most damning criticism [of the ‘Liberal Jesus’] came from the pen of William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury, who said quite simply, ‘Why anyone should have troubled to crucify the Christ of Liberal Protestantism has always ben a mystery.’ (I Believe in the Historical Jesus, 113)

            “Albert Schweitzer’s famous book, The Quest of the Historical Jesus, written early in the twentieth century, chronicled the nineteenth-century quest for the ‘historical Jesus’ and pronounced all such efforts futile. (Ironically, he then proceeded to set forth his own skeptical, non-biblical interpretation of Christ’s life.)  But the twentieth century would produce its own aberrant views of Jesus.  The influential German New Testament critic Rudolf Bultmann was noted for his ‘demythologizing’ approach to the New Testament.  As a result, ‘for Bultmann nothing survived of the deeds of Jesus and very little of his teaching’ (Marshall, I Believe, 126).  The so-called ‘new quest for the historical Jesus’ in the post-World War 2 era concluded, like the old nineteenth-century one, that little, if anything, could be known about the life of Christ.  The closing decades of the twentieth century saw the rise of Jesus Seminar, whose members also reinvented Jesus to fit their Scripture-rejecting, anti-supernatural bias.  They even had the audacity to arrogate to themselves the right to vote on which sayings of His were authentic.  (For a defense of the historical reliability of the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry, see Lee Strobel, the Case for Christ [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998]; for a scholarly critique of critical approaches to the Gospels, see Robert L. Thomas and F. David Farnell, The Jesus Crisis (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1998.)

            “But all such skeptical efforts to find the ‘real’ Jesus are doomed to fail, because they do not look for Him in the only place where He can be found—the divinely inspired, inerrant historical record of His life and ministry in the New Testament Gospels.  To deny the truthfulness of the Gospels and then attempt to construct a life of Jesus is both futile and absurdly hypocritical.

            “Luke in the lengthiest of the four Gospels, but the reader does not have to work through the entire book for the truth concerning the Lord Jesus Christ to become evident. The real Jesus is unmistakably revealed in every section of Luke, and no more so than in this passage.  Its eleven verses portray Him as fully human; He acted and talked like a man, and was accepted as one by the people around Him.  Yet these same verses reveal that He is more than a mere man.  The profound incident in His life presented here reveals clearly His essential nature as God.  As this story of a fishing incidents on the Sea of Galilee unfolds, five of Jesus’ divine attributes are manifested. He is the source of truth, omniscient, omnipotent, holy, and merciful.”

5/22/2026 10:11 PM

 

 

“Jesus’ Power Over The Eternal Realm” (Luke 4:42-44)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/22/2026 10:06 AM

My Worship Time                                               Focus:  “Jesus’ Power Over The Eternal Realm”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                            Reference:  “Luke 4:42-44”

            Message of the verses:  “When day came, Jesus left and went to a secluded place; and the crowds were searching for Him, and came to Him and tried to keep Him from going away from them.  But He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.”  So He kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.”

            John MacArthur writes the following on the verses above, which are the very last verses of the fourth chapter of Luke’s gospel.  “When day came on Sunday after a Sabbath in which He demonstrated massive power over the natural and supernatural realms, Jesus left Peter’s house just before daybreak while it was still dark (Mark 1:35) and went to a secluded place.  Mark reveals that His purpose in doing so was to pray (v. 35).  But before long the crowds were searching for Him, and came to Him and tried to keep Him from going away from them.  Awed by His power to deliver them from disease and demons, they understandably did not want Jesus to leave them.  The Lord did not rebuke their interest in the miraculous signs He had performed.  But those signs were not an end in themselves, but rather a means to an end.  Jesus was not primarily a miracle worker, but a preacher of the gospel.  Therefore, He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.”  Jesus repeatedly affirmed that the Father had sent Him (Matt. 10:40; Mark 9:37; Luke 10:16; John 4:34; 5:24, 30, 36, 37: 6:38, 39, 44, 57; 7:16, 28, 29, 33; 8:16, 18, 26, 29, 42; 12:44, 45, 49; 13:20; 14:24; 15:21; 16:5; 17:8, 18, 21, 23, 25; 20:21).  He came not merely to demonstrate His power over the effects of sin in the body by physical healing and the mind by overcoming demonic influence, but mot importantly His power to overcome sin’s eternal consequences.  For that to happen required repentance and faith in the gospel preached (cf. Rom. 10:13-17).”

(cf. Rom. 10:13-17)

“13  For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14  How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15  And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 16  But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” 17  So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

“Only by faith in the truth preached could sinners be rescued from Satan’s kingdom of darkness and enter into the kingdom of God.  This is the first of thirty-two uses of this important theological term in Luke’s gospel (he used it six more times in (Acts).  The kingdom of God is the sphere or realm of salvation that those who respond in repentant faith to the preaching of the gospel enter, so in keeping with His kingdom mission, Jesus kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea, which here is a generic term for the entire nation of Israel including Galilee (Mark 1:39), not merely the southern part.

            “The power the Lord displayed over the natural, supernatural, and eternal realms authenticated Him as the Son of God, sent by the Father to preach the saving gospel of salvation to lost sinners.”

            Now as I look at why the Lord Jesus Christ came to earth, that is to save sinners through His death, burial, and resurrection from the dead, along with preaching and teaching about the kingdom of God to mostly the children of Israel, it causes me to think of why I spend so much time in the mornings and the evenings writing my Spiritual Diaries.  I do this to tell the story of the Lord Jesus Christ, my Lord and my Savior so others can see the sinful condition that they were born into, and then repent of their sin, and then ask the Lord Jesus to come into their lives in order to save them from their sin.  Paul writes “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”  This certainly is true and so if an unbeliever realizes that this verse Paul wrote is true, and then comes to the Lord Jesus Christ in prayer confessing that they are a sinner and have sinned, asking Him to save them, then He will and that person will move out of the kingdom of the world, and into the kingdom of God.

            I also take the time to write these Spiritual Diaries to hopefully cause people to grow in their faith as Peter writes in 2 Peter 3:18 “but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”  I have to say that doing my Spiritual Diaries each day, a couple of times each day does bring joy to my heart believing that the Holy Spirit of God will continue to send them around the world to use them for the glory of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior.

5/22/2026 10:53 AM

           

“Jesus’ Power Over The Supernatural Realm” (Luke 4:41)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/21/2026 9:05 PM

My Worship Time                                      Focus:  “Jesus’ Power Over The Supernatural Realm”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                       Reference:  Luke 4:41

            Message of the verse:  Demons also were coming out of many, shouting, “You are the Son of God!”  But rebuking them, He would not allow them to speak, because they knew Him to be the Christ.

            Now after spending three says on the last section, this one is short, and so it should be done this evening. 

            We have already looked in the previous chapter of MacArthur’s commentary, if Jesus is to free those held captive in Satan’s kingdom of darkness, He must have power over him and his demon hosts.  As Jesus did earlier in the synagogue seen in 4:33-35, Jesus demonstrated that power so that demons also were coming out of many.  After listening to MacArthur’s sermons on this section of Scripture I found out that in this particular part of time, when Jesus was on the earth that there was a lot of demon activity going on, and so Jesus has to show that He has power over Satan, and also the demons that followed Satan when he fell, which happened before the earth was made by the Lord, but not too much time before that. 

            MacArthur writes “Like the demon Christ cast out in the synagogue, these were terrified of Him.  They knew His true identity, that He was God the Son, the second person of the Trinity incarnate, with absolute authority to send them into eternal torment.  Confronted with the second member of the Trinity, in terror they were shouting or screaming, ‘You are the Son of God!’ as they left their victims.

            “But Jesus did not want their testimony, so rebuking them, He would not allow them to speak, because they knew Him to be the Christ.  Jesus not only had the power to cast them out, but also to silence them.  To have demons affirming His identity would only create confusion.  ‘It was altogether inappropriate that Jesus’ Messiahship should be proclaimed by representatives of the evil one.  Had He allowed this by not silencing the demons, He would have given grounds for a charge brought against him later by the Pharisees, that of being Satan’s ally (Matt. 12:24; Mark 3:22)’ (Robert L. Thomas and Stanley N. Gundry, A Harmony of the Gospels [Chicago: Moody, 1978], 50).  Paul similarly rejected demonic testimony from a possessed slave girl in Philippi (Acts 16:16-18).”

(Acts 16:16-18)

“16 ¶  As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling. 17  She followed Paul and us, crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” 18  And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.”

            “Jesus’ authority over the demons revealed His power to deliver sinners whose minds have been blinded by the god of this world (2 Cor. 4:4) and his demon hosts.”

(2 Cor. 4:4)

“4  In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

“Believers even now have renewed minds (Rom. 12:2; Eph. 4:23), and one day will have minds completely free from the effects of demonic deception.”

(Rom. 12:2; Eph. 4:23)

“2  Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

“23  and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,”

“The Savior of souls, the one who will rescue sinners from Satan’s power (Eph. 2:1-3) and the kingdom of darkness (Col. 1:13-16), must demonstrate that He has absolute power over the demon captors.”

(Eph. 2:1-3)

“1 ¶  And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2  in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3  among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”

(Col. 1:13-16)

“13  He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14  in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 15  He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16  For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.”

5/21/2026 9:44 PM

 

 

 

PT-3 “Jesus’ Power Over The Natural Realm” (Luke 4:38-40)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/21/2026 8:53 AM

My Worship Time                                      Focus:  PT-3 “Jesus’ Power Over The Natural Realm”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                 Reference:  Luke 4:38-40

            Message of the verses:  “Then He got up and left the synagogue, and entered Simon’s home.  Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Him to help her.  And standing over her, He rebuked the fever, and it left her; and she immediately got up and waited on them.  While the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and laying His hands on each one of them, He was healing them.”

            There is a little more at the beginning of this SD that kind of goes along with what I was writing last evening, and so that is where I will begin this morning.

            We were discussing “faith healers” last night and so unlike these modern faith healers, Jesus performed His healings in public before huge crowds in various locations—not in the carefully orchestrated and highly controlled surroundings of modern healing venues or TV studios. Nor were His healings contingent of the faith of the one being healed; most of those He healed were unbelievers, and hence unable to make a “positive Confession” and claim their healing.  So unprecedented with Christ’s healing ministry that people exclaimed, “We have never seen anything like this” (Mark 2:12; cf. John 9:32).

            I have to mention a story that was very upsetting to me while I was working at my job at Ford, in the casting plant a lot of years ago.  There was always a nurse to go to if you had a problem and one of the nurses told me that she was a believer.  She had cancer in her ankle and she went to one of these churches who believed in the kind of healing that I have been writing about.  She told me that her faith was not good enough and so they had to cut her foot off, and the part that made me so mad was that this is what her so-called Pastor told her, as he said that if she had enough faith that she would have been healed.  I had to keep my feelings to myself when she told me this story, but I had little if any respect for her pastor.

            MacArthur writes “The apostles (Luke 9:1), the seventy (Luke 10:1-9), and a few close associates of the apostles (Barnabas [Acts 15:12], Philip [Acts 8:6-7], and Stephen [Acts 6:8]) were also granted the gift of healing to authenticate them as the preachers of God’s truth.  Their healing was characterized by the same features that marked Christ’s healing.

            “The apostles healed with a word or a touch.  Peter merely said to Aeneas, ‘Jesus Christ heals you’ and he was immediately healed (Acts 9:34).  On the island of Malta after being shipwrecked, ‘Paul went in to see [the father of Publius, who was gravely ill with dysentery] and after he had prayed, he laid his hands on him and healed him’ (Acts 28:8).

            “The apostles healed instantly.  As already noted, Aeneas was made will immediately.  When Peter and John healed a man ‘who had been lame from his mother’s womb’ (Acts 3:2),’ immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened.  With a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God’ (vv. 7-8).

            “The apostles healed totally. ‘Aeneas, who had been bedridden eight years, for he was paralyzed….Immediately…got up’; his paralysis was gone (Acts 9:33-34).  Paul encountered a man at Lystra who ‘had no strength in his feet, [was] lame from his mother’s womb, [and] had never walked’ (Acts 14:8).  But when Paul ‘said with a loud voice, ‘Stand upright on your feet’’ the man ‘leaped up and began to walk’ (v. 10).

            “The apostles were able to heal anyone of anything.  Acts 5:16 records that ‘the people from the cities in the vicinity of Jerusalem were coming together, bringing people who were sick or afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all being healed.’  After Paul healed Publius’s father, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases were coming to him and getting cured’ (Acts 28:9).

            “The apostles healed organic conditions, such as lameness (Acts 3:2-8), paralysis (Acts 9:33-34), and dysentery (Acts 28:8).

            “Finally, the apostles raised the dead.  God used Peter to bring Dorcas back to life, and Paul to bring Eutychus back to life after he fell to his death from a third-story window (Acts 20:9-12).  As a physician Luke, who was present [v. 8], was certainly qualified to determine whether a person was dead.).

            “The gift of healing in the New Testament was not given to keep believers healthy, but as a sign to unbelievers verifying the truthfulness of the gospel and the authenticity of its preachers.  To claim that healing is the norm in the church undermines its unique role in authenticating Jesus and the apostles as revealers of divine truth.  In keeping with that purpose, healings faded from the scene as the apostolic era drew to a close.  Paul (Gal. 4:13-15), Epaphroditus (Phil. 2:25-27), Timothy (1 Tim. 5:23), and Trophimus (2 Tim. 4:20) were all recorded to have been sick.  None of them were healed.  Nor do the New Testament Epistles, which define the life and theology of the church, refer to a ministry of healing.  There is no evidence that the kind of healings seen in the era of Jesus and the apostles was to continue beyond them (cf. 2 Cor. 12:12). Nor were such healings a regular part of the purpose of God before them.  They are extremely rare in the Old Testament; for example, none are recorded for the 750 years from Isaiah to Jesus Christ.  God may choose to heal through the prayers of His people, but not through miracle working men as in the case of our Lord and His associates…

            “While the sun was setting, signifying the end of the Sabbath and its restrictions on travel and work, all (Mark 1:33 notes that ‘the whole city had gathered at the door’) those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to Jesus.  Word traveled fast and when the Sabbath ended, people could do what they were not permitted to do during the Sabbath—bring their needy friends and family to the house in hope of healing.  They were not disappointed.  In keeping with His compassion and power to heal anyone and any disease or condition, He was laying His hands on each one of them and was healing them.  No one was excluded.  The display of healing on that one day may have exceeded all the recorded healings in the entire Old Testament, and Jesus did such thing over the three years of His ministry.”

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  When I was struggling with this subject soon after I became a believer the man who was tutoring me on the Word of God said that God heals everyone every time with the exception of the last time.  In a sense God does heal you the last time if you are a believer as He takes you to heaven.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I am trusting the Lord to do His perfect will in the life of my wife who has to make decisions on how to get more treatment, praying that God will be faithful, as He always is in leading us to where He wants us to go for her treatment    5/21/2026 9:59 AM

           

 

PT-2 “Jesus’ Power Over The Natural Realm” (Luke 4:38-40)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/20/2026 10:02 AM

My Worship Time                                      Focus:  PT-2 “Jesus’ Power Over The Natural Realm”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                 Reference:  Luke 4:38-40

            Message of the verses:  “Then He got up and left the synagogue, and entered Simon’s home.  Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Him to help her.  And standing over her, He rebuked the fever, and it left her; and she immediately got up and waited on them.  While the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and laying His hands on each one of them, He was healing them.”

            I have to say that I did not get too far this morning, but will try and do better in this evening’s SD, as I will begin by quoting a paragraph from John MacArthur’s commentary that he wrote to help explain these verses above.

            “But Peter had more in mind than a meal, since upon arrival Jesus was confronted by a family crisis.  Simon’s mother-in-law (1 Cor. 9:5 refers to Peter’s wife) was seriously ill, suffering from an infection and a resulting high fever.  (Only Luke the physician specifies that it was a high[Gk., mega; lit. ‘large’ or ‘great’] fever; Matthew [8:14] and Mark ‘1:30] merely refer to it as a fever.)  Fully aware of Jesus’ power to heal (cf. 4:14, 23), they asked Him to help her.  The Lord immediately responded and standing over her He took her by the hand in a gesture of tender compassion (Matt. 8:15; Mark 1:31), rebuked the fever, and it left her.  Rebuked translates a form of the verb epitimao, which is used almost exclusively in the New Testament to speak of rebuking people or demons (the only other instance of it being used to rebuke an inanimate object are in the accounts of Jesus’ calming the sea [Mark 4:39; Luke 8:24]).  Its use here demonstrates that Jesus had authority and power over the forces that debilitate the natural body.  At Christ’s word, the fever instantaneously left her.  There was no lingering weakness, no recovery period; all her symptoms disappeared at once.  Completely healed and needing no recovery of strength lost in the battle with the infection, she immediately got up and waited on them, preparing and serving the Sabbath meal to the many family members and guests.

            “The Lord’s healing ministry set the pattern for the true biblical gift of healing.  Six features characterized His healing ministry and set it apart from those of the fake ‘faith healers,’ who have paraded themselves before the church with their deceptive and abusive false promises.”

            I will now begin quoting these six features that characterized Jesus healing ministry, and see how far I get this evening.

            “First, Jesus healed with a word, as He did in the case of the centurion’s servant (Matt. 8:5-13) or, as here with Peter’s mother-in-law, a touch (cf. Mark 3:10; 5:25-34).

            “Second, Jesus healed instantly.  There were no progressive healings; the people He cured did not gradually get better.  As noted above, Peter’s mother-in-law’s symptoms vanished at once, and she was fully restored to health.  Similarly, the centurion’s servant ‘was healed that very moment’ (Matt. 8:13); the woman with the hemorrhage was healed ‘immediately’ (Mark 5:29); the ten lepers were cleansed of their disease as soon as they left to show themselves to the priests (Luke 17:14); after Jesus ‘stretched out His hand and touched [another leper]…immediately the leprosy left him’ (Luke 5:13); when Jesus commanded the crippled man at the pool of Bethesda, ‘Get up, pick up your pallet and began to walk’ (John 5:8-9).  Some offer the Lord’s healing of the blind man in Bethsaida (Mark 8:22-25) as an example of a progressive healing.  But the man’s statement, ‘I see men, for I see them like trees, walking around’ (v. 24) merely defined his preexisting condition of blindness.  The actual healing was instantaneous (v. 25).  Had Jesus’ healings not been instantaneous, they would not have demonstrated His supernatural power over disease.  His critics could have claimed that the people were better as a result of natural processes.

            “Third, Jesus healed totally.  Peter’s mother-in-law was cured of all her symptoms and went at once from being bedridden to serving a meal.  When Jesus healed a man ‘covered with leprosy’ (Luke 5:12), ‘the leprosy left him’ (v. 13).  It was the same with all of Jesus’ healings; ‘the blind receive[d] sight and the lame walk[ed], the lepers [were] cleansed and the deaf hear[d]’ (Matt. 11:15).

            “Fourth, as verse 40 notes, Jesus healed everyone.  He did not leave behind long lines of disappointed, distraught people who were not healed, like modern faith healers do.  Matthew 4:24 says that ‘the news about Him spread throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them.’  According to Matthew 12:15, ‘Many followed Him, and He healed them all,’  while Luke 6:19 notes that ‘all the people were trying to touch Him, for power was coming from Him and healing them all.’  So widespread was Jesus’ healing that He, in effect, banished disease from Israel during the three years of His ministry.

            “Fifth, Jesus healed organic disease.  He did not heal vague, ambiguous, invisible ailments such as lower back pain, heart palpitations, or headaches.  On the contrary, He restored full mobility to paralyzed limbs, full sight to blind eyes, full hearing to deaf ears, and fully cleansed leprous skin.  Jesus healed ‘every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people’ (Matt. 4:23; cf. 9:35).  All Jesus’ healings were undeniable, miraculous signs, as even His most bitter enemies admitted (John 11:47).

            “Finally, Jesus raised the dead—not those who were in a temporary coma, or whose vital signs fluctuated during surgery, but a young man in his casket on his way to the graveyard (Luke 7:11-15), a young girl whose death was apparent to all (Mark 5:22-24, 35-43), and a man who had been dead for four days (John 11:14-44).”

            Lord willing I will be able to finish this section in tomorrow morning’s SD.

5/20/2026 10:47 PM

 

PT-1 “Jesus’ Power Over The Natural Realm” (Luke 4:38-40)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/20/2026 8:09 AM

My Worship Time                                      Focus:  PT-1 “Jesus’ Power Over The Natural Realm”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                 Reference:  Luke 4:38-40

            Message of the verses:  “Then He got up and left the synagogue, and entered Simon’s home.  Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Him to help her.  And standing over her, He rebuked the fever, and it left her; and she immediately got up and waited on them.  While the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and laying His hands on each one of them, He was healing them.”

            This morning we begin looking at what is a fairly long section from John MacArthur’s commentary on these verses which have many things in them to write about.  I want to first begin by writing about something that is near and dear to my heart at this time, and that is the physical effects of the fall are universal and devastating.  Birth is the firs step toward death.  Deformity, illness, weakness,  injury, disease, and death from the universal biography of mankind.  If He is to be the Savior of His people and take them to the perfections of eternal heaven, the Messiah then must have the power to reverse all these natural effects of the fall, and there are many of them as mentioned above.  This passage provides both a specific illustration of and a general reference to Jesus’ power over the natural realm.

            I am learning some things that are making a lot of sense to me this morning, things that I had not realized in my reading of Luke’s gospel in this section before, and it is my prayer that all those who read this will also learn things too.

            MacArthur writes “After preaching in the Capernaum synagogue and casting a demon out of a man in the audience (vv. 31-37), Jesus got up and left the synagogue, and entered Simon’s home.  The Sabbath service in the synagogue usually ended around noon and was followed by the main meal of the day.  This is the second Sabbath mentioned in Luke’s gospel (cf. 4:16-30), and both of them featured hostility (either human or demonic) to Jesus (cf. 6:6-11; 13:10-17).

            “Simon Peter had not yet been officially called to be a disciple (cf. 5:1-10; Matthew 4:18-22 and Mark1: 16-20) refer to a preliminary, temporary call; Luke to the final, permanent call to follow the Lord) or an apostle (6:13-14).  Luke did not need to introduce him to his readers, because by the time he wrote his gospel, Peter was known to all of them.  At this point in the narrative, however, he was still a member of the synagogue at Capernaum.  Peter had been introduced to Jesus by his brother Andrew (John 1:35-42).  On that occasion Jesus changed his name to ‘Peter’ (Greek) or ‘Cephas’ (Aramaic) to indicate his future role as part of the foundation of the church (Matt. 16:16-18).  Peter was originally from nearby Bethsaida (John 1:44) and now operated a fishing business in Capernaum with his brother Andrew (Matt. 4:18) and their partners, James and John (Luke 5:10), also recently called to follow Jesus (Mark 1:16-20). Having been present in the synagogue to hear Jesus’ unparalleled exposition of the Word of God and witness the amazing display of His power over the demonic realm, Peter invited Him to his house for the Sabbath meal, along with Peter’s brother  Andrew, James, and John (Mark 1:29).”

I will end this portion of this section and Lord willing will pick it up this evening to continue to look at it, as mentioned this is a long section from Luke’s gospel that MacArthur writes about.

5/20/2026 8:55 AM  

Intro to “Jesus: The Divine Deliverer” (Luke 4:38-44)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/19/2026 10:57 PM

My Worship Time                                                  Focus:  Intro to “Jesus: The Divine Deliverer”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                  Reference: Luke 4:38-44

            Message of the verses: “³⁸ Then He got up and left the synagogue, and entered Simon’s home. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Him ^[a]to help her. ³⁹ And standing over her, He rebuked the fever, and it left her; and she immediately got up and served them.

⁴⁰ Now while the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He was laying His hands on each one of them and healing them. ⁴¹ Demons also were coming out of many, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” And yet He was rebuking them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that He was the Christ.

⁴² Now when day came, Jesus left and went to a secluded place; and the crowds were searching for Him, and they came to Him and tried to keep Him from leaving them. ⁴³ But He said to them, “I must also preach the kingdom of God to the other cities, because I was sent for this purpose.”

⁴⁴ So He kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

            I will do as I have been doing and that is quote the introduction to these verses from John MacArthur’s commentary.

            “The historical records of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ in the Gospels contain all that God has revealed about Him.  Each of the four gospel writers wrote from his own unique perspective and for a distinct audience.  Matthew wrote primarily to a Jewish audience, presenting Jesus as Israel’s Messiah and rightful king.  Thus, while Luke recorded Mary’s genealogy to show Jesus’ physical descent, Matthew gave Joseph’s genealogy, since the royal line came through him.  Matthew frequently cited the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecy in Jesus’ life and ministry.  He also referred to Jesus by the Jewish messianic title ‘Son of David.’  Sensitive to his readers’ reverence for and reluctance to use the name of God, Matthew aloe of the gospel writers substitutes the phrase ‘kingdom of heaven’ instead of ‘kingdom of God.’

            “Mark addressed his gospel to Gentiles, particularly the Romans.  Thus he was careful to translate Aramaic words (e.g., 3:17; 5:41; 7:11, 34; 14:36; 15:22, 34) for his readers, and to explain Jewish customs with which they would not have been familiar (7:3-4).  His fast-paced account, marked by the frequent use of the term ‘immediately’ (more than forty times), would appeal to the practical, action-oriented Romans.  Mark presented Jesus as the Servant, who came ‘to give His life a ransom for many’ (10:45).

            “Luke presented a carefully researched, historically accurate account of the life of Jesus Christ.  He addressed a broader Gentile audience than Mark, and presented Jesus as the Son of Man (a phrase he used more than two dozen times), the answer to mankind’s needs and hopes.

            “John was written much later than the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke) to supplement and complement them.  Its supreme, overarching purpose, as stated by John himself, is to present Jesus Christ as God, and to encourage its readers to come to faith in Him: “These have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name’ (20:31).  The same purpose could be given for the other three Gospels.

            “Yet despite their different emphases, all the Gospels present the revelation of Jesus Christ as God in human flesh.  They reveal Him to have been born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died as a substitute for believing sinners, and to have risen from the dead three days later, forever conquering death for all the redeemed.  Repentance from sin and faith in Christ and His work bring complete forgiveness of sin and eternal life.  The divine truths, spiritual realities, singular accomplishments, and glorious promises they record as part of the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus demand that the Gospels be studied carefully.

            “Along with the claims Jesus Christ made, the gospel writers also presented convincing evidence for the validity of His assertions.  To that end, Luke marshals the historical evidence to make an extensive, irrefutable case that Jesus is the God-man, Messiah, and only Savior.  Luke’s concern (like the other gospel writers), then, is not primarily with the historical details of Jesus’ life and ministry, but rather with what those accurately recorded details incontrovertibly prove about Him.

            “The closing section of chapter 4 might appear at first glance to be a series of brief, disconnected comments that sum up a certain period of Jesus’ life.  But they are in reality very carefully connected.  The Jewish people wanted to see signs to prove that Jesus  was the Messiah (cf. 11:16; Matt. 12:38; 16:1; 1 Cor. 1:22), and in this brief passage Luke provided some for them.  He revealed Jesus’ divine power over three realms: the natural realm, the supernatural realm, and the eternal realm.”

5/19/2026 11:28 PM

 

“His Power” (Luke 4:35-37)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/19/2026 9:23 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                           Focus:  “His Power”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                 Reference:  Luke 4:35-37

            Message of the verses:  “35 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst of the people, it came out of him without doing him any harm.36 And amazement came upon them all, and they began talking with one another, saying, “What is this message? For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!”37 And the news about Him was spreading into every locality of the surrounding region.

            “This passage records a moment in Jesus’ ministry when He confronts a demon-possessed man in the presence of the crowd. His direct command, “Be quiet and come out of him,” demonstrates His authority over evil spirits. The demon’s expulsion without causing harm to the man shows both His power and compassion. The crowd’s amazement reflects their recognition of Jesus’ unique authority, and the spreading news about Him indicates the growing impact of His ministry in the region.”

            Now we have already seen in an earlier SD that Jesus wanted no publicity from a demon.  He therefore rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet and come out of him!”  Now as we can see Jesus did not recite any incantations or perform any rituals; there was no discussion, debate, or struggle as He just spoke, and the demon had no choice but to instantly obey Him.  So when the demon had thrown the man down in the midst of the people in a final, futile act of defiance, he reluctantly came out of him without doing him any harm.  Jesus in His compassion prevented the demon from hurting the man.  Now again as we wrote about earlier we do not know if this man ever became a believer, for he certainly was not a believer as he had a demon indwelling him.

            Now the crowd that was gathered in the synagogue had been amazed at Jesus’ authoritative teaching.  I think that sometime when we look at and study the Bible for a long time that we just kind of not truly think about what is happening and then do not really understand the picture, but think for a moment if you or I was in that crowd and saw what these people saw.  I am sure that our reaction would be much different that just reading about it.  Now the crowd was even more amazed by this demonstration of His absolute authority over the supernatural demonic realm, and they began talking with one another saying, “What is this message?  For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits and they come out.”  What they had just witnessed was unprecedented.  In Matthew 9:33, which goes along with this section in Luke says “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.”  The report of this remarkable, astonishing act on Jesus’ part began to spread like wildfire beyond Capernaum into every locality in the surrounding district.

            John MacArthur writes in his conclusion to this section:  “This demonstration of Jesus’ power over Satan and the demons reveals His ability to deliver sinners from their grasp.  Though the forces of hell made an all-out assault on Him during His earthly ministry, Christ effortlessly defeated them.  And by His sacrificial death on the cross, He accomplished the redemption of His people, delivering them forever from the kingdom of darkness (Col. 1:13).”

(Col. 1:13)

^“13 [For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,”

“Believers share in Christ’s victory over Satan and the demons through their salvation and union with Him (cf. Gen. 3:15; Rom. 16:20).”

(cf. Gen. 3:15; Rom. 16:20)

“15  I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.’”

“20  The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”

“Martin Luther expressed that truth in his hymn, ‘A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”:

The Prince of Darkness grim,

We Tremble not for him;

His rage we can endure,

For lo, his doom is sure;

One little word shall fell him.

            I remember a story about Martin Luther who knew that Satan was against him in all the work that he was doing for the cause of Christ through an ink bottle at what he perceived to be Satan.  A man named Philipp Melanchthon (1497-1560) was a close friend of Martin Luther.  I think that perhaps he was with Luther when he through the ink bottle at Satan.  You see Luther was used by God begin the Reformation and so this did not make the devil happy and so he was fighting against it but God was then and still is now and has forever been in charge. 

Spiritual Meaning for my Life Today:  I have this issue of being upset with those in our government who are trying to ruin our country, especially those who are of the party of President Trump, and I know that the Bible teaches that a person has to be born-again in order to get into God’s heaven, and from their actions it does not seem like they are.  Perhaps praying for a great revival in our country would help more than complaining about these people.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Pray for revival in our country and trust the Lord to do this in His own time, but hopefully soon!

5/19/2026 10:01 AM

 

 

"HIs Purity" (Luke 4:34c)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/18/2026 9:31 PM

My Worship Time                                                                                               Focus:  His Purity

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                     Reference:  Luke 4:34c

Message of the verse:  I know who You are—the Holy one of God

            This will be another of my shorter SD’s as I am having some trouble with my laptop.

            It is unlike atheists, liberal theologians, and also cultists, the demons know exactly who Jesus is.  In fact, in the first half of Mark’s gospel they are the only ones who are sure He is the Son of God.  Let us think about this for a moment.  The Bible teaches that God created the angels before He created the world, and when He created them they were all perfect.  Now we know that one third of them fell after Lucifer fell too.  Lucifer I believe was the archangel of the Son of God and it was pride that caused him to fall.  Now if one thinks about this they have to come up with the fact that all of the angels that God created knew exactly who the Son of God is.  Now back to our verse we are looking at this evening.  Expressing the sheer terror of one who is absolutely wicked in the presence of the One who is absolutely holy, the demon screamed, I know who You are—the Holy One of God!  Now like the rest of his fellow demons, this one was forced to acknowledge  that Jesus is the absolutely holy Son of God.  If God’s people are afraid of His holy presence cf. Isa. 6:5; Ezek. 1:28; Matt. 17:6; Rev. 1:17), how much more so a vile wicked demon?  Now Jesus however, did not want or need the testimony of hell.  So therefore, He silenced the demons whenever they affirmed His true identity (vv. 35, 41; cf. Mark 1:25, 34; 3:12; Acts 16:16-18).  Now since Jesus Christ lives in believers as seen in Galatians 2:20), demons fear them, because the One they supremely dread indwells them.

            As mentioned this is a very short SD, and I have one more to do in this group entitled “His Power where we will look at Luke 4:35-37.

5/18/2026 9:46 PM