MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/28/2026
10:44 AM
“Common Men, Uncommon Calling PT-5:
Philip, Bartholomew”
(Luke 6:143, f)
Message of
the verse: “and Philip, and
Bartholomew,”
In this morning’s SD I will begin to
look at the introduction to what John MacArthur wrote about Philip, and
Bartholomew from his commentary. I believe
it will take to SD’s to complete the introduction.
“All those whom God calls to lead
His people must meet the standards set forth in Scripture (cf. 1 Tim. 3:1-12;
Titus 1:6-9). But beyond those required
standards, the Lord uses men of widely divergent temperaments and personalities
to lead His church.
“Some are bold, assertive men of
action. When Moses ‘saw an Egyptian
beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren…he struck down the Egyptian and hid him
in the sand’ (Ex. 2:11-12). Despite his
doubts about his speaking ability (Ex. 4:10-13), Moses repeatedly confronted
Pharaoh with God’s demand that he let Israel go. He also did not hesitate to confront his own
people when they complained (Ex. 17:2), sinned (Ex. 32:19-28), or challenged
his leadership (Num. 16:1-50). His
aggressive, forceful personality ultimately cost Moses the privilege of enter
the Promised Land after he disobeyed God.
Faced with yet another round of grumbling and complaining by the
Israelites (Num. 20:2-5), Moses sought God’s counsel (v. 6). The Lord instructed him to take his rod and
speak to a rock, which would then produce the water the people were crying for
(vv. 7-8). But instead of speaking to
the rock, Moses spoke to the people, angrily denouncing them as rebels (vv.
9-10). He then struck the rock with his
rod (v.11), thereby, ironically, also rebelling against God (Num. 27:14). As a result, Moses forfeited the right to
lead the people in Canaan (Num. 20:12).
“Elijah was another bold
leader. In the third year (1 Kings 18:1)
of a devastating drought God had proclaimed through him (1 Kings 17:1), Elijah
was confronted by Israel’s wicked king Ahab.
The king angrily said to him, ‘Is this you, you troubler of Israel?’ (1 Kings 18:17). Not intimidated in the least, Elijah replied,
‘I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have, because you
have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and you have followed the Baals’ (v.
18). Elijah then fearlessly challenged
hundreds of false prophets to a public contest to see who was the true God, the
Lord or Baal, and ordered the false prophets to be killed afterwards (vv.
19-40).
“Later, after Ahab had murdered a
man so he could seize his vineyard (1 Kings 21:1-16), Elijah once again boldly
confronted him. Ahab said to him
sarcastically, ‘Have you found me, O my enemy?’
Refusing to back down Elijah replied, ‘I have found you, because you
have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the Lord’ (v. 20). Hen then pronounced God’s judgment on Ahab
and his evil wife Jezebel (vv. 21-26).
Shocked and terrified, Ahab ‘tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and
fasted, and he lay in sackcloth and went about despondently’ (v. 27). Because the king humbled himself, the Lord postponed
the judgment (v. 29). Toward the end of
his ministry, Elijah also rebuked Ahab’s son and successor as king, Ahaziah (2
Kings 1:3-4). That confrontation
included Elijah dramatically calling down fire from heaven to consume two
detachments of soldiers sent to bring him to the king (vv. 9-12).”
That is as far as I am going to go
with this introduction this morning, but Lord willing I will finish this
section in this evening’s SD.
Spiritual
Meaning for my life today: As I broke from writing this SD this morning
to go and listen to the sermon our Pastor was preaching I was convicted by some
things that have been problems for me in my walk with the Lord. I am very upset with how things are going on
in our countries battle with Iran, hoping that our military will just destroy
those certain types of Muslins. I have
mentioned that there are two types of Muslins, one is peaceable, the other is
trying to bring great troubles in the world to bring what they call the 12th
Iman, and these are the ones who have been in control of Iran since 1977 when
they took over that peaceful country. My
point in all of this is not to get so excited about this and trust the Lord who
certainly has a plan to care for this issue.
So I pray for our President to receive insight from the Lord to do what
He desires to be done, and pray for the peaceful Muslins in Iran that through
all of this that the Lord will save many of them, to which I believe He is
doing.
My
Steps of Faith for Today: Trusting the Lord to give peace and
comfort to my wife and to me as she continues to go downhill from the cancer
that has invaded her body.
6/28/2026
12:36 PM
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