MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/13/2026
10:31 AM
My
Worship Time Focus: “The
Sending”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference: Luke
6:13b
Message of the verse: “whom He also named as apostles”
I have mentioned in earlier
Spiritual Diaries that when I decided to use what is in the book of Luke to
describe each of Jesus disciples, or apostles as they were then called to use
the material that John MacArthur wrote in his commentary on the gospel of
Luke. I had studied the gospel of
Matthew for five years and this kind of material was also found there but I
suppose that it is a bit different in Luke so I will just quote the things from
MacArthur’s commentary on Luke that speaks of all of the apostles.
“Having chosen the Twelve, Jesus named
or designated them apostles. Apostolos (‘apostle’) refers to
a messenger, ambassador, or representative invested with the full authority of
the one who sent him. The concept of an
apostle can be traced to the Jewish concept of the shaliach, which also
referred to a messenger sent with full authority to act on behalf of
another. Some rabbis, for example, were
sent to the Diaspora (Jews living outside of Palestine) with authority to act
on behalf of the Sanhedrin on various matters.
A shaliach could also act on behalf of an individual, similar to
the modern-day legal concept of power of attorney. Thus in Jewish practice, the shaliach was
the same as the one who sent him (cf.
John 13:20; Gal. 4:14).”
(cf. John 13:20; Gal. 4:14)
“20 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives
the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent
me.’”
“14 and though my condition was a trial to you,
you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ
Jesus.”
“David,
for example, proposed marriage to Abigail through messengers, and she signified
her acceptance of his proposal by washing their feet (1 Sam. 25:40-42).”
(1 Sam. 25:40-42)
“40 When the servants of David came to Abigail at
Carmel, they said to her, "David has sent us to you to take you to him as
his wife." 41 And she rose and
bowed with her face to the ground and said, "Behold, your handmaid is a
servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord." 42 And Abigail hurried and rose and mounted a donkey,
and her five young women attended her. She followed the messengers of David and
became his wife.”
“Jesus’
designating the Twelve to act on His behalf would thus have been understood by
everyone in that culture.
“But before being sent out by Jesus,
the Twelve needed to be personally mentored by Him. Mark 3:14 notes that the Lord chose them ‘so
that they would be with Him.’ Only after
that time of preparation did He ‘send them out to preach.’ Their call to the apostles was not an end in
itself, but merely the next step in the sequential process of preparing them to
carry on Christ’s gospel ministry after His death. First, they believed in Him (cf. John
1:35-51).”
(cf. John 1:35-51)
“35 The next day again John was standing with two
of his disciples, 36 and he looked at
Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”37 ¶ The two disciples heard him say this, and
they followed Jesus. 38 Jesus turned and
saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him,
“Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39 He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So
they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for
it was about the tenth hour. 40 One of
the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s
brother. 41 He first found his own brother
Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ).
42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked
at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas”
(which means Peter).43 ¶ The next day
Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.”
44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the
city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found
Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also
the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good
come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said
of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?”
Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig
tree, I saw you.” 49 Nathanael answered
him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50 Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you,
‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things
than these.” 51 And he said to him,
“Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God
ascending and descending on the Son of Man.’”
“Second,
He called them to leave their occupations and follow Him full time (Luke
5:6-11, 27-28).
(Luke 5:6-11, 27-28)
“6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a
large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. 7 They signaled to their partners in the other
boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that
they began to sink. 8 But when Simon
Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a
sinful man, O Lord.” 9 For he and all
who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken,
10 and so also were James and John, sons
of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be
afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” 11 And when they had brought their boats to
land, they left everything and followed him.”
“27 ¶ After this he went out and saw a tax collector
named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” 28 And leaving everything, he rose and followed
him.”
“Third, He
chose them to be apostles. Fourth, He
sent them to preach the gospel to Israel (Matt. 10:1-6).”
(Matt. 10:1-6)
“1 And he called to him his twelve disciples
and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal
every disease and every affliction. 2
The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called
Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;
3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and
Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who
betrayed him. 5 These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing
them, "Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans,
6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the
house of Israel.’
“Finally,
He sent them out to evangelize the world (Acts 1:8). Because of their central
role in the ministry of the gospel to Israel, Luke mentions them six times in
his gospel. But emphasizing their
foundational role in the church, he mentions them almost thirty times in Acts.”
(Acts 1:8)
“8 But you will receive power when the Holy
Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all
Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.’’
Spiritual
Meaning for my Life today: It is my desire to continue to write my Spiritual
Diaries and to put them onto the internet where I pray most everyday that the
Spirit of God will use them to bring salvation to the lost and also to cause
believers to grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
My
Steps of Faith for Today: I am continuing in prayer to the Lord that He
will have mercy on my wife as she is suffering with the cancer that she is battling
at this time, and in considerable amount of pain.
6/13/2026
11:05 AM
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