The Devotional – Search the Scriptures – 740

 

The Devotional – Search the Scriptures – 740

Today’s Kick Start! – (NKJV) Isaiah 46 ⁴ Even to your old age, I am He, And even to gray hairs I will carry you! I have made, and I will bear; Even I will carry, and will deliver you.

Personal Obedience—Walk in the Spirit and you will not carry out the deeds of the flesh.

Acts 5 ¹² And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s Porch.¹³ Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly. ¹⁴ And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, ¹⁵ so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. ¹⁶ Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed. ¹⁷ Then the high priest rose up, and all those who were with him (which is the sect of the Sadducee's), and they were filled with indignation, ¹⁸ and laid their hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison. ¹⁹ But at night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, ²⁰ “Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life.” ²¹ And when they heard that, they entered the temple early in the morning and taught. But the high priest and those with him came and called the council together, with all the elders of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought.

JESUS CHRIST: He IS the same Yesterday, He IS the same Today, He IS God Forever!

With the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira a cloud of fear fell on the young church and many people feared to join the rest as they did before. Yet, people were increasingly curious and began to form an outside/inside group who desired to have the signs and miracles without a total commitment to the LORD. But the working of the Holy Spirit through the hands of the apostles were such an intense blessing that ALL who were sick and tormented by evil were healed.

 A religious sect of Judaism called the Sadducee's were angered over the events in the streets of Jerusalem and this caused the high priest to take a group of like-minded men and arrest the apostles. This may seem to be a highly public display of power over the newly formed church, yet it is only the beginning to what the devil is capable of doing—we will see this later as we go through the book of Acts.

 Today the church (here in the U.S.) operates in the comforts of humanistic values that suffocate the power of God the Holy Spirit, you may be thinking ‘Bah-Humbug’ [see Romans 1 ^18-23 and 2 Timothy 4 ^1-5.] If you cannot see this going on in our churches today then there is something wrong with your spiritual eyesight. This would be an honest mistake if you did not know it. But you do know it, therefore it is no mistake that your foolish and sinful heart is darkened.

 The question is; does God restrict or change the church because it became too hard or impossible for God’s Spirit to call out an angel or a host of angels to provided freedom for the preaching of the gospel? It was possible then and it is possible now, most of the events of church today do not rely on God to evangelize the world.  If God is the same yesterday, today and forever; and HE IS, then who changed; the leaders? Of course the leaders and leadership has taken this power away from God by neutralizing the Holy Spirit's Ministry.

 The church today relies on human antidotes that neutralize the seemingly embarrassing experiences of the outpouring of God the Holy Spirit as He seeks to work through people in the church. James 5 ⁹ Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door! You may say that I am grumbling, I would like to say that I am, but let God judge what I am writing and let God have the final verdict. In the meantime, Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. 1 Corinthians 15 ⁵⁸.