27th Mar 26 | 16:08
Studies by Book
02 Acts 05 12-16 MIRACLES, SIGNS AND WONDERS IN HIS CHURCH 04 Acts 05 13 We must walk in holiness
📖 Acts 05:12-16
04 – 13Apr2023 – *We must walk in holiness* - _Acts 05:12-16_ - MIRACLES, SIGNS AND WONDERS IN HIS CHURCH - Bible reading: _Isaiah 33:14-17_
“Lord Jesus, we repent for we are vile in all our ways. You know us and there is no wholeness in us. Cleanse us, O God and teach us, as Your people to be holy before You. In Your name, we pray. Amen.”
_Acts 5:13 *Yet none of the rest dared join them*, but the people esteemed them highly._
People around them were watching all that was happening in the church. The incident of Ananias and Sapphira had taken place and people, in general, were full of fear at the church of Jesus.
Are people afraid, in a reverential manner, of the holiness of God in His church today?
We have become like salt that has lost its savour, and no one is troubled about us. We even seem to have lost the capacity to be ashamed of our status but we carry on living unaffected lives. *Is there not a great need for repentance amongst us?*
Prophet Samuel was known as a man of God even from his youth. _I Samuel 3:19-20 So Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. (20) And *all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel had been established as a prophet of the LORD*._
So, when Prophet Samuel went to Bethlehem, the people there were afraid. Such was the effect of Prophet Samuel on the people. _I Samuel 16:4-5 So Samuel did what the LORD said, and *went to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming*, and said, "Do you come peaceably?" (5) And he said, "Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice." Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons, and invited them to the sacrifice._
It is sad that we do not have such leaders as Prophet Samuel of whom the general public is afraid, considering him or her as a godly person.
We are all living compromised lives.
_Ezekiel 22:25-30 The conspiracy of her prophets in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing the prey; they have devoured people; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in her midst. (26) Her priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things; they have not distinguished between the holy and unholy, nor have they made known the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. (27) Her princes in her midst are like wolves tearing the prey, to shed blood, to destroy people, and to get dishonest gain. (28) Her prophets plastered them with untempered mortar, seeing false visions, and divining lies for them, saying, 'Thus says the Lord GOD,' when the LORD had not spoken. (29) The people of the land have used oppressions, committed robbery, and mistreated the poor and needy; and they wrongfully oppress the stranger. (30) *So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.*_
This last statement from the Lord is frightening and alarming. When we see all this evil happening among us as His people, *how is it that we are not driven to our knees with tears of repentance before our God, who will heal us?*
*Will we repent and cry out to God to make us holy people, set apart for God?*
The Lord is searching among us to see if there is someone who would represent Him in truth to the nations and there is none. *The power and witness of the early church, of their walk with God, was such that others did not dare join them.* The people knew that they were vile in the eyes of God because of the life of the early church.
Let us listen to the heart of God.
_Isaiah 33:10-13 "Now I will rise," says the LORD; "Now I will be exalted, Now I will lift Myself up. (11) You shall conceive chaff, You shall bring forth stubble; Your breath, as fire, shall devour you. (12) And the people shall be like the burnings of lime; Like thorns cut up they shall be burned in the fire. (13) *Hear, you who are afar off, what I have done; And you who are near, acknowledge My might.*"_
The Lord intends to bring about such a powerful cleansing in His church that sinners will be afraid, just as it happened with the early church.
*_Isaiah 33:14-17 The sinners in Zion are afraid; Fearfulness has seized the hypocrites: "Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?" (15) He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, He who despises the gain of oppressions, Who gestures with his hands, refusing bribes, Who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed, And shuts his eyes from seeing evil: (16) He will dwell on high; His place of defense will be the fortress of rocks; Bread will be given him, His water will be sure. (17) Your eyes will see the King in His beauty; They will see the land that is very far off._*
```Will we return to our Lord to be cleansed so that the world around us will fear God?```