CAC LIVING WATER - WRONG EXAMPLES TO AVOID (1)

LIVING WATER DAILY DEVOTIONAL
Wrong examples to avoid (1)

31ST , JULY 2022 

 

EXTRA READING FOR TODAY:  Isaiah 33-36

READ:  Acts 5:1-11

 

1 But a certain man named Ananias with his wife Sapphira sold a piece of property,

2 And with his wife’s knowledge and connivance he kept back and wrongfully appropriated some of the proceeds, bringing only a part and putting it at the feet of the apostles.

3 But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart that you should lie to and attempt to deceive the Holy Spirit, and should [in violation of your promise] withdraw secretly and appropriate to your own use part of the price from the sale of the land?

4 As long as it remained unsold, was it not still your own? And [even] after it was sold, was not [the money] at your disposal and under your control? Why then, is it that you have proposed and purposed in your heart to do this thing? [How could you have the heart to do such a deed?] You have not [simply] lied to men [playing false and showing yourself utterly deceitful] but to God.

5 Upon hearing these words, Ananias fell down and died. And great dread and terror took possession of all who heard of it.

6 And the young men arose and wrapped up [the body] and carried it out and buried it.

7 Now after an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not having learned of what had happened.

8 And Peter said to her, Tell me, did you sell the land for so much? Yes, she said, for so much.

9 Then Peter said to her, How could you two have agreed and conspired together to try to deceive the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out [also].

10 And instantly she fell down at his feet and died; and the young men entering found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband.

11 And the whole church and all others who heard of these things were appalled [great awe and strange terror and dread seized them].

 

 

 

 

MEMORISE: “Now he did not say this because he cared for the poor but because he was a thief; and having the bag (the money box, the purse of the Twelve), he took for himself what was put into it [pilfering the collections].” - John 12:6

 

 

 

EXPOSITION

Many wrong examples abound of which the Christian should be aware, to aviod. Severally had God spoken and acted against such acts, past and present and all will be in the future. This is because the Bible makes it clear that no identity is unknown and that every work is recorded against the name of the doer! Just as the Lord Jesus Christ addressed the 7 churches in Asia by their names (Rev.2&3), *I know your works.*

        Unfaithfulness in material things toward God and man in a weighty offence. It carries such penalties as curse, fine (refund), stigmatisation, expulsion/dismissal, condemnation and outright execution and death as being carried out in some nations of the world presently. This is the sin of the couple in today's devotional reading, Ananias and Sapphira, which was punished drastically and beyond any imagination, by God Himself. They were even mentioned by their names!

        Let us learn from this departed couple who suddenly left their coveted properties behind for others, sometimes, who didn't know when they were amassing such and trying to trick God into believing their hypocrisy. They invoked God's unchanging fiery judgement. Be warned! Compare the following scriptures: Zechariah 5v1-4, Luke 16v1-13, 19v20-27, Revelation 21v8.

           Unfaithfulness to God and others is a wrong attitude that God doesn't take lightly. He expects us to be faithful in all things (1 Cor.4v2). Go into history to see how God has dealt with people who have at one time or the other misappropriated church money, and you will see that He doesn't joke with unfaithfulness. Don't be another Judas Iscariot. Never you conspire with anybody to defraud God. No one gets away with it.

 

 

 

PRAYER POINT:

1. Thank God the Almighty, the sole Owner and Proprietor of the earth and all that is therein.

2. Pray against the spirit of unfaithfulness.

3. Pray for CAC Olatunde Region, our father in the Lord, the superintendent, and its officers at the various levels, as led by the Spirit of God.

 

 

DO HAVE A BLESSED DAY

 

©2022  LIVING WATERS IS a daily devotional by THE CHRIST APOSTOLIC CHURCH