Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Solemn Purging (Acts 5:11)


SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/11/2017 10:46 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                      Focus:  Solemn Purging

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                             Reference:  Acts 5:11

            Message of the verses:  “11 And great fear came over the whole church, and over all who heard of these things.”

            How would you like to be involved in a church that was a thriving church doing things that bring great glory to the Lord Jesus Christ and His cause and you walk into say, a Wednesday evening prayer service and you sit down and your pastor tells you that a husband and a wife suddenly died because they lied to the Lord and He just took them home to heaven.  I suppose that as verse eleven tells us there would be great fear come over that entire church after these things were revealed.  Now we mentioned that we believe that both of these people were believers and thus were escorted into heaven after their death.  Not sure about the reception they received ad we know that Christ died for their sins, including these. 

            We can call what happened to this couple “church discipline,” and as mentioned we looked at Revelation chapter one and talked about the eyes of our glorified Lord as He looks at His church and desires for it to be holy as after all the church is the bride of Christ.  Let us look at 1 Timothy 5:19-20 “19 Do not receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses. 20 Those who continue in sin, rebuke in the presence of all, so that the rest also will be fearful of sinning.  The highlighted section tells us something similar to what Acts 5:11 tells us and that is that discipline from the Lord causes others to be fearful and not want to sin.  Now back for a moment to our story from the beginning of this SD.  After you heard about the couple who had lied to the Lord and thus were taken home, my question is what would you do if you thought about telling a lie to someone?  I think you see what happened to this early church as there were probably no lies told in that church for a very long time, or for that matter any sin.

            John MacArthur concludes this section and this 12th chapter in his commentary on the book of Acts with these words:  “God’s strong desire for a pure church, and His willingness to take drastic steps to achieve that desire, were obvious for all to see.  It was time, as Peter was later to write, ‘for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?’ (1 Peter 4:17).”  Perhaps Peter remembered this incident when he was inspirited to write from Psalm 34, ‘Let him who means to live life and see good days refrain his tong from evil and his lips from speaking guile’ (1 Peter 3:10).”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I think that at all times in my walk with the Lord that I am to have fear (reverence) of Him so that I will not do things that do not please the Lord, and when I fail I must repent and confess my sins to the Lord.  “The successful Christian life is a series of new beginnings.”

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Remember the Word of God when tempted to sin.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “His return” (John 14:3).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said, “"Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away?’”

Answer in our next SD.

10/11/2017 11:09 AM

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