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 because 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 as
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 tongue 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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