EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/3/2026
8:10 PM
My
Worship Time Focus:
Intro to “The
Scope of Jesus’ Ministry”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference: Luke
8:1-3
Message of the verses: “Soon afterwards, He began going
around from one city and village to another, proclaiming and preaching the
kingdom of God. The twelve were with
Him, and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses:
Mary who was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna
the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many other who were
contributing to their support out of their private means.”
This evening we begin to look at the
eight chapter of the book of Luke and I cannot say how long that we will be in
this chapter, but as always I will not go fast through it, as you have to go
slow through the study of God’s word so that you can get the most out of it. I will as always quote the introduction from
MacArthur’s commentary.
“The plan of God that unfolded in
the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ is counterintuitive to
conventional human wisdom. Modern so-called
experts on ministry methodology would not have devised such a narrow strategy
to bring salvation to the world by limiting the exposure of the Son of God to
the small, weak, embattled, and oft-conquered nation of Israel. Nor would their plan have called for Him to
live the first thirty years of His life in obscurity in a tiny hamlet
(Nazareth) in a backwater region (Galilee), and then spend the overwhelming
majority of His three years of ministry within the borders of Israel. They would have been puzzled by His rejection
of all religiously trained and influential leaders, and their place His choice
of twelve common, ordinary men to be His closest associates in ministry and
preachers. And scorning the influential
and powerful, He spent His time with common people, especially the poor and
outcasts of society. Jesus’ welcoming of
sinners and withering criticism of the religious elite could not only be viewed
as counterproductive to the impact of His message. Modern marketers would hardly have been surprised
that Jesus wound up being rejected by the nation and being executed as a result
of the hatred of the leaders.
“But worldly experts would think
like that would be dead wrong in their evaluation of God’s strategy. With a breathtaking economy of effort, the
Lord Jesus Christ perfectly and precisely carried out the ministry given Him by
the Father (John 17:4).” “4 I
glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.” “Working within the limits set by the Father
allowed Jesus’ brief three years of ministry to set in motion the most powerful
force for truth the world has ever known.
Over the generations the gospel has spread to every corner of the globe
and the church has continued to expand worldwide.
“Jesus’ simple, fixed, and precisely
focused ministry stands in sharp contrast to modern concepts of the
ministry. Mimicking worldly management
theories, ministries today are often designed to have the widest possible
impact, and with that goal in mind to be diverse, eclectic, synergistic,
tolerant, and culturally connected.
Enormous amounts of time, money, and manpower are poured into
strategies, plans, and activities designed to influence as many people as
possible. The goal is to create a matrix
of perceptions, cultural expectations, and felt needs that can be met at the
broadest level by the ministry. The divine model of ministry by the Lord Jesus Christ
in the plan and power of heaven needed not of those devices.
“The brief summary passages (cf.
4:14-15, 31-32, 40-41; 6:17-19) marks the transition into the final phase of
the Lord’s Galilean ministry. It
provides a remarkable insight into the divinely-imposed limitations that made
Jesus’ ministry so effective. Six
insights into the scope of His ministry may be discerned. Jesus’ ministry was limited sovereignly,
geographically, theologically, humanly, society, and materially.”
(cf. 4:14-15, 31-32, 40-41; 6:17-19)
“14 ¶ And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit
to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding
country. 15 And he taught in their
synagogues, being glorified by all.”
“31 ¶ And he went down to Capernaum, a city of
Galilee. And he was teaching them on the Sabbath, 32 and they were astonished at his teaching, for
his word possessed authority.”
“40 Now when the sun was setting, all those who
had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him, and he laid
his hands on every one of them and healed them. 41 And demons also came out of many, crying,,
“You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to
speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.
“17 And he came down with them and stood on a
level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of
people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, 18 who came to hear him and to be healed of
their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured.
19 And all the crowd sought to touch
him, for power came out from him and healed them all.”
9/3/2026
8:49 PM
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