The latest installment of the "Ananias and Sapphira" warning has come to us from our guest speaker this past Sunday. In the first service Reverend Julius told us of a Christian who sought the Lord concerning a matter, and received a clear response from the Lord. But, rather than obeying God, the man sought counsel from a member of the prophetic community in his area. The person he asked gave him the same response as God had.
The man chose to do his own thing anyway. Three months later, he was dead.
It's pretty easy to rationalize this story into insignificance. You can say everybody dies, you can say the timing of his death was coincidental... but I think we should keep in mind that this story is just one of several indicators sent to us by God. Speakers from Barbados, Jamaica, Kansas, California, Washington D.C., along with our beloved pastoral staff here in the Bronx, each under the weight of God's pressing, have in essence said the same thing: Time is running out. Get your act together. Obey God and stop seeking to gratify your sinful nature.
We have grown accustomed to experiencing the mercy of God, and perhaps some of us have interpreted that mercy as license to continue in sin. A quick read of Romans will refute that assumption (see Romans 6:1,2).
We have grown accustomed to experiencing success in the operation of our spiritual gifts, and perhaps we have made the mistake of thinking that the success is an indicator of "good standing" with God. But the Bible reveals cases where men and women spoke God's truth and demonstrated His power, but at the same time their lives were in opposition to His desire for them. Remember Samson?
Friends, a line has been drawn in the sand.
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