As a child, I used to love the ‘Pick & Mix’ section in Woolworth’s: different kinds of sweets in different tubs and I got to choose the selection of sweets which I personally liked best. This seemed to me much better than a box of chocolates where there were always flavours I did not really enjoy!

Life truly is more like a box of chocolates, though, as Forrest Gump said, than it is a ‘Pick & Mix’! Things happen in life which we do not want, which we do not understand, and which we definitely don’t like. To pretend this is not so is not reality, and truth, ultimately, is what is real. It would be wrong to teach on miracles without including those miracles we wish weren’t there. It would be wrong to treat the Bible like a ‘Pick & Mix’ section of a shop. Paul says that ‘all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.’ (2 Tim 3:16-17) If we want to be thoroughly equipped for every good work, if we want to be trained in righteousness so that we can live lives that please the Lord, then we must come to terms with the God who is, not the God we would like or the God we imagine. Such images are idolatry. It behoves us to wrestle with the difficult parts of the Bible, the parts we wish weren’t there, the miracles that seem to contradict what we know of God’s love and mercy, so that we can know the God who is. We can’t afford to be ‘pick and mix’ Christians, living from isolated Bible verses. We need to know who God is and surrender to His sovereignty in all things.

This morning in our series ‘The Miraculous & The Mundane’, we looked at a miracle in Acts 5 which we prefer not to think about or even acknowledge. In this chapter, we see God’s judgment on two believers (Ananias and Sapphira) and how the hypocrisy and deceit of this couple led to their unexpected and sudden deaths. We prefer not to think about the judgment of God or we reduce this to something that only happened in the Old Testament, but the Bible urges us to accept the whole revelation of God and we must, therefore, wrestle with passages which upset and offend us in order to be sure we are worshipping the God who is rather than the God of our imagination.

At the end of Acts 4, we see a picture of the unity of the church, with believers (e.g. Barnabas) selling possessions and property and pooling the money from these transactions to help the church overall. There was no compulsion to do this, but the love of Christ overflowed into generous living. Ananias and Sapphira, however, sold a piece of land and kept back part of the price for this. God revealed this deceit to Peter through a word of knowledge and Peter condemned Ananias for lying to the Spirit of God and then condemned Sapphira for testing God’s Spirit. The result was both people died instantly.

The facts of the story are easy enough to understand: a supernatural word of knowledge exposing sin and hypocrisy in this couple and God’s power striking down the couple as He had done with Korah, Dathan and Abiram who rebelled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. (Numbers 16) What is harder for us to understand is why God chose to act in this way (and why He doesn’t act like this always!) It seems that we must learn to view sin the way God views it. The holiness and authority of God are very much in evidence in this story, and we see also how the authority of the apostles is reinforced so that, as one commentator puts it, ‘God laid the bodies of Ananias and Sapphira in the path of every hypocrite who would seek to enter the church.’ [1] The result of this miracle was a fear and awe of God (Acts 5:5, 11) which helped the church to see that God is not to be trifled with.

Miracles are not simply entertainment for a bored people, ‘clickbaits’ to lure us to God, ‘enticements’ to persuade us that God might be worth looking at. They are evidence of who God is and how God works. This miracle shows us God in awesome power, absolute purity and unconditional holiness. God gave His all for us; now, in the words of the hymn, ‘love so amazing, so divine/ demands my soul, my life, my all.’ (‘When I Survey The Wondrous Cross’, Isaac Watts)

[1] https://www.gotquestions.org/Ananias-and-Sapphira.html

We have had news from India, where we support Fredrick and Reeba’s ministries in Bangalore and around other areas in India.

Fredrick writes, “Pastor Tamilselvam lost one of his legs in an accident while he was on a ministry journey last year and still continues to walk with the help of crutches and walkers. He travels great distances preaching the Jesus to the nearby villages; some of the villages are without roads, hospitals, or bus services.

Tamilselvam sold all of his belongings and bought a small land to build a church 15years ago, in Synagunda village, Gudiyatham District. His ability to purchase a piece of land on a rocky hill was made possible by God. Today he conducts prayer meetings in his small house packed with people, but many of those who attend don’t recognise it as a place of worship and leave after their first visit. He has been worshipping in his small house for years.

Two years ago, in a Village Pastors meeting I met Pastor Tamilselvam, spoke to him personally and prayed with him. I had an opportunity again to visit his village last month. Personally, I paid a few visits to the Synagunda village and shared with our church elders and leaders, and prayed that if God leads we would support. Since 1st August our church congregation and elders were positive to go ahead in helping this church building. The foundation work started on 1st August. With all the offerings & gifts we receive from our friends and get in our church offerings we are sending to the church construction. To complete this church construction, yet we require 2000 pounds.

Since this village Church need our help we started special prayers and God’s direction and we believe that God would us to help Ps. Tamilselvam to complete their church in that village before the end of this year 2023.

Your prayers will surely, make a difference in these villages in the coming days. Thank you.”

Please let us know if you wish to support this church building project.

Fredrick also updated us on Amshika, the girl we support financially in India. Amshika is severely disabled and needs a wheelchair. Please pray this will become possible.