SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Oh church, it's really good to be with you this morning.
SPEAKER_00: I need to see them better, Cameron.
SPEAKER_00: Can I see them better a little bit, please?
SPEAKER_00: Now don't throw anything at me.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to see you.
SPEAKER_00: It's so good to be with you this morning and just worship.
SPEAKER_00: I love our worship set.
SPEAKER_00: Um, everything that we've been experiencing for the last two weeks have just been really encouraging to me.
SPEAKER_00: We had Bill come and talk to us a little bit about what it looks like to exhibit bold faith and to respond in boldness.
SPEAKER_00: And then last week we got to witness and celebrate those dedications and baptisms.
SPEAKER_00: You remember that?
SPEAKER_00: Uh so good.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it really like we got off to a raucous start.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, Kyle is an he is an amazing dunker, and Charles is not the smallest guy.
SPEAKER_00: I was baptized with Charles when the water came up out of the tub.
SPEAKER_00: It was a big day, and I was so grateful for it.
SPEAKER_00: And then, as Kyle set the stage, next week we get to celebrate Easter and all that means to us as Jesus followers.
SPEAKER_00: It's so exciting.
SPEAKER_00: And then to boot, Grayson's back, amen.
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: Grayson, we love you.
SPEAKER_00: Just want you to know there was a drummer vacancy two weeks ago that I signed up for, and the worship team moved the drum kit and the drum cage.
SPEAKER_00: So uh you've trained them well, and I'm not uh I'm not discouraged, just disappointed.
SPEAKER_00: This morning we continue our journey in Acts.
SPEAKER_00: We uh we get back in the book of Acts and we're greeted with an important message that deals with our individual spiritual condition and the health and the growth of the church.
SPEAKER_00: You see, from the beginning of Acts, we watch what God has done through the Holy Spirit and the people responded.
SPEAKER_00: Through faith, that first 120, they waited in Jerusalem on the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Through faith, we watched how everyone, as they were dwelled with the Holy Spirit and began to serve and follow him, began to share generously with each other.
SPEAKER_00: And through faith, we watched the apostles, particularly Peter and John, take the message of the gospel and proclaim it with boldness.
SPEAKER_00: At the heart of all of that is a spirit of generosity.
SPEAKER_00: And this is a generosity that wasn't just observed by the people within the church itself.
SPEAKER_00: This was a generosity that was observed by everyone around them, even in the highest forms of government.
SPEAKER_00: Kyle has talked to us in the past about Aristides.
SPEAKER_00: Do you remember him?
SPEAKER_00: He was a second-century Athenian philosopher and a pagan at the time, and he wrote these words to the emperor who asked him to go check on the people that were following Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to what he wrote.
SPEAKER_00: Christians love one another.
SPEAKER_00: They never fail to help widows.
SPEAKER_00: They save orphans from those who would hurt them.
SPEAKER_00: If one of them has something, he gives freely to the one who has nothing without boasting.
SPEAKER_00: If they see a stranger, Christians take him home and are as happy as though he were a real brother.
SPEAKER_00: They don't consider themselves brothers in the usual sense, but brothers instead through the Spirit of God.
SPEAKER_00: And if they hear that one of them is in jail or persecuted for professing the name of their Redeemer, they all give him what he needs, and if it is possible to redeem him, set him free.
SPEAKER_00: And if there is among them any poor or naked, and if they have no spare food, they fast two or three days in order to supply the needy.
SPEAKER_00: They live with much care, justly and soberly, as the Lord their God commanded, and they do not declare in the ears of the multitude the kind deeds they do, but are careful that no one should notice of them.
SPEAKER_00: Truly, this is a new people, and there is something divine in them.
SPEAKER_00: Don't you want to be a part of that church?
SPEAKER_00: And I want to be a part of that church.
SPEAKER_00: And we get to see that.
SPEAKER_00: That church that he wrote about is the church that we are studying.
SPEAKER_00: And this morning we're exposed to a story of a couple named Ananias and Sapphira.
SPEAKER_00: And Ananias and Sapphira are an interesting challenge for us because they basically tried to jeopardize everything that the church was accomplishing through the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And in that jeopardy and in that action that they took, we'll find out how God responds and what that might mean for us.
SPEAKER_00: So let's start in chapter four.
SPEAKER_00: We're in Acts chapter four this morning.
SPEAKER_00: We'll start in verse 32.
SPEAKER_00: Whether you're in the journal, you have your Bible or your app or on the screen.
SPEAKER_00: Let's read together what Luke writes for us.
SPEAKER_00: Now the full number of those who believed were one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.
SPEAKER_00: And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.
SPEAKER_00: There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as they had need.
SPEAKER_00: Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas, which means son of encouragement, a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.
SPEAKER_00: But a man named Ananias with his wife Sapphira sold a piece of property, and with his wife's knowledge, he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles' feet.
SPEAKER_00: But Peter said to Ananias, Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land?
SPEAKER_00: While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own?
SPEAKER_00: And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal?
SPEAKER_00: Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart?
SPEAKER_00: You have not lied to man but to God.
SPEAKER_00: When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last, and great fear came upon all who heard it.
SPEAKER_00: The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.
SPEAKER_00: After an interval of about three hours, his wife came in, not knowing what had happened, and Peter said to her, Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.
SPEAKER_00: And she said, Yes, for so much.
SPEAKER_00: But Peter said to her, How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord?
SPEAKER_00: Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.
SPEAKER_00: Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last.
SPEAKER_00: When the young men came in and they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband.
SPEAKER_00: And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, you are most welcome here this morning.
SPEAKER_00: We want you to be here in our midst.
SPEAKER_00: We want you to cover us with your grace and with your spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, when we read this passage, there are challenges to it that might be hard for us to understand.
SPEAKER_00: And I just pray that you will reveal to us, show us that may we hear and see as you want us to hear and see, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And if there's anything this morning that I might say that could be a distraction or wrong, I pray that you will help us remove that from what you want us to take out as we embark on this day and this week.
SPEAKER_00: It is in the confidence that we ask this in your Son's name, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: So what do you do with a passage like this?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, if I'm being completely honest, I was prepared for Acts 4, 32 through 37.
SPEAKER_00: And I would have been good.
SPEAKER_00: We could have been home by now because we get it.
SPEAKER_00: But what do you do with a passage like this with Ananias and Sapphira?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, how many of you have done an in-depth study on Ananias and Sapphira in the last six or nine months?
SPEAKER_00: It's not a story that we study a lot.
SPEAKER_00: It's a story that has all kinds of challenge to it.
SPEAKER_00: It's a story that when we read it in passing, it's hard to reconcile the dissonance that we see with the whole early church and the favor that God was bringing on the church that was growing exponentially, that was sharing, that was experiencing his favor with this couple, who probably would have undermined the whole thing if they did not experience the consequence that they did.
SPEAKER_00: Like, how do we how do we process this passage?
SPEAKER_00: Luckily for us, Luke does an amazing job when he wrote his work about contrasting what godly behavior and ungodly behavior is.
SPEAKER_00: He does an amazing job of helping us understand and see what is what is God honoring and what is not God honoring.
SPEAKER_00: And I think if we were to take a look at this passage and the contrast between what we see in the early church and Barnabas and Anasias and Sapphira, I think there are at least three spiritual truths that we can take with us.
SPEAKER_00: The first spiritual truth that I think we read in this passage today is that God honors unity in the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: God honors unity in the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: If we go back to 432, now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.
SPEAKER_00: And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.
SPEAKER_00: There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.
SPEAKER_00: What we see right here in chapter four is a more explicit and more specific understanding of what we read first in chapter two.
SPEAKER_00: Do you remember in chapter two when the spirit descended and the indwelling happened and everyone started sharing?
SPEAKER_00: Well, chapter four gives us a more explicit understanding of the mechanics of how that worked.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, think of the spreadsheet that the apostles had to have to track all those resources and the needs that happened.
SPEAKER_00: That was a big deal.
SPEAKER_00: We don't just see the mechanics of what was happening with this church.
SPEAKER_00: What we see is what they were doing in response to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: There are three thoughts within this brief passage that I think are worth noting when we learn about unity in the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: First is that generosity was the heart of their motivation.
SPEAKER_00: Everything that they did was baked on this idea of being generous.
SPEAKER_00: Do you recall reading early in verse 32 that no one considered their possessions their own?
SPEAKER_00: For what they had, they shared.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't see themselves as owners but as stewards.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 33, did you catch the nice little reference there as the apostles proclaimed with boldness, did they experience God's grace?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: They experienced what?
SPEAKER_00: His great grace.
SPEAKER_00: Man, I want to be a part of God's grace, but if there's a chance to have his great grace, that's really what I want to be a part of.
SPEAKER_00: We don't see that much else throughout Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: That great grace was there because of the boldness.
SPEAKER_00: And then the final observation is that there wasn't a needy person among them.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever the specific need was among those who were there, that need was being met.
SPEAKER_00: It is an amazing story and testament of what happens when there is unity in the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Now, many of these Christian converts that were new to this gathering and to this indwelling of the Spirit and this church, as they will be later called, they would have had, many of them would have been Jews, and they would have had some context for what they were observing in this generosity moment.
SPEAKER_00: If you go back to Deuteronomy, listen to some of the words of what God commanded his people in Israel.
SPEAKER_00: If among you one of your brothers should become poor in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother.
SPEAKER_00: But you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be.
SPEAKER_00: Let's skip down to verse 10.
SPEAKER_00: You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake.
SPEAKER_00: For there will never cease to be poor in the land.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore I command you, you shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy, and to the poor in your land.
SPEAKER_00: This has been God's intent all along.
SPEAKER_00: This is what he gave the Israelites when they were trying to find their way to him.
SPEAKER_00: And as Jesus came and fulfilled the ultimate promise that God had for a savior, he said, the Spirit's coming, and when the Spirit came, it compelled the people to see how the Spirit moves through generosity.
SPEAKER_00: You see, when we come together, when we, the local church, revived church, when we come together voluntarily and unified, we experience God's favor.
SPEAKER_00: The church was unified around the message of the gospel and the boldness with which the apostles shared it.
SPEAKER_00: That obedience created an environment where everyone took notice.
SPEAKER_00: This was not a group that was just mirroring what was going on culture.
SPEAKER_00: This gospel message was new, it was fresh, it was something that had never been really seen before, and there was no one around outside in the culture who was doing anything remotely with what they could observe in the church.
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of special when you read about this part of the passage because I believe that we have seen and are seeing God do something similar here at Revived Church.
SPEAKER_00: We're in a unique position as a church to see this same unity happen through the vision that God has given us for the bridge.
SPEAKER_00: Many of you have started coming recently.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you have been coming for less than three years?
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: All right, it's amazing.
SPEAKER_00: I love that.
SPEAKER_00: You hear us talk a lot about the bridge.
SPEAKER_00: You hear us talk a lot about the vision that we have to seek the peace and the prosperity within our community.
SPEAKER_00: You see us talk about how we we want to see people find economic, relational, and spiritual flourishing in their relationship with the Lord and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: What was once an idea has been replaced with personal testimonies of transformation, and we saw it last week.
SPEAKER_00: We baptized many people last week alone who are a part of this church, not because they came to this church, but because they were connected in some way to the bridge.
SPEAKER_00: It is exciting to see what God is doing.
SPEAKER_00: I'd like to take just a moment and highlight in some detail one of the facets of what goes on at this church that we don't talk as much about.
SPEAKER_00: Even before the vision of the bridge was cast fully, before we had everything worked out and we knew who all the partners were going to be on this bridge, there were early seeds of generosity that we sold as a church.
SPEAKER_00: On January 1st, 2020, our benevolence fund had a balance of just over$1,000.
SPEAKER_00: Now, of all the things that we experienced with COVID, and let me tell you, there were a lot of all the things that we experienced with COVID.
SPEAKER_00: One really special and neat grace that came out of that was our heightened sense and awareness of those in need.
SPEAKER_00: If you were here during that season, you might recall we had a food drive.
SPEAKER_00: You remember that?
SPEAKER_00: If you were here in 2020, we had this food drive, and we invited everyone to bring food for our food pantry.
SPEAKER_00: And if you didn't need your stimulus checks, remember that you got a stimulus check.
SPEAKER_00: If you didn't need the stimulus check, we invited you to invest that in our benevolence fund.
SPEAKER_00: That one food drive alone, our church brought over 10,000 pounds of food.
SPEAKER_00: 10,000 pounds of food feeds a lot of people.
SPEAKER_00: That benevolence fund then also became an integral part of helping those in our church and in our community who have need.
SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about for a minute what happened since 2020.
SPEAKER_00: Since 2020, our food pantry now has its own truck and it picks up food every day of the week, except Sunday, across the metro area from various stores with whom we have a partnership.
SPEAKER_00: That food is picked up by volunteers and they bring it back and we sort it and we prepare it.
SPEAKER_00: We took our old food pantry resources of personally donated refrigerators and freezers and we got rid of all of those and we replaced them with brand new industrial freezers and refrigerators.
SPEAKER_00: Every week our food pantry serves 100 families.
SPEAKER_00: 100 families.
SPEAKER_00: Those are families in our church, those are families from Lionheart, those are families from Cross Purpose, those are families from other partners that we have in the bridge, and the community at large.
SPEAKER_00: And that's all done with the help of about 60 people who volunteer at the food pantry.
SPEAKER_00: If you volunteer at the food pantry, would you raise your hand?
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: That's amazing.
SPEAKER_00: We don't just have the food pantry.
SPEAKER_00: That benevolence fund I talked about that had$1,000 on January 1st, 2020.
SPEAKER_00: Since that time, and through the generosity of our people, we have been able to disperse over$225,000 of benevolence through the end of 2025.
SPEAKER_00: We don't talk about that, right?
SPEAKER_00: That is amazing.
SPEAKER_00: When we observe what God is doing and we come together and we share in what he is doing, and we are part of what he is doing, he will reinvest back in us.
SPEAKER_00: It's this observation of the collective early church that responds to those in need that is compelling.
SPEAKER_00: And it's amazing, and I love everything about it.
SPEAKER_00: But there's a couple of personal examples.
SPEAKER_00: We move from the collective to the individual with two examples that Luke gives us.
SPEAKER_00: It starts first with a guy named Barnabas, or Joseph, who we call Barnabas.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 36, we read that Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas, which means son of encouragement, a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.
SPEAKER_00: Barnabas' personal example of liquidating his own assets and sharing all the proceeds that he had for the support of the early church is crucial for us today.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I'm not really a nickname guy.
SPEAKER_00: On my birth certificate, my name is Stephen.
SPEAKER_00: When I talk to you, I tell you that my name is Stephen.
SPEAKER_00: Kyle, on the other hand, I don't even know the names of his children.
SPEAKER_00: I just know them by their nicknames.
SPEAKER_00: But who wouldn't want to have a nickname Barnabas?
SPEAKER_00: Who wouldn't want to be known by his peers as a son of encouragement?
SPEAKER_00: Barnabas is extraordinarily important in the early church, not just because of his dedication and his support to what was going on.
SPEAKER_00: He was a person of means.
SPEAKER_00: He was from the tribe of Levi.
SPEAKER_00: He was from a priestly tribe.
SPEAKER_00: He was someone who was well respected and he was well known in his community, and he was humble and he gave.
SPEAKER_00: But you know his greatest contribution to the early church?
SPEAKER_00: It was his encouragement.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to learn later.
SPEAKER_00: I can't steal the thunder, but we're going to learn later in Acts how Barnabas was a critical part of introducing the church to a guy named Saul.
SPEAKER_00: Saul was a guy who persecuted the very people we were reading about in Acts 1 through 4.
SPEAKER_00: He later we referred to as a guy named Paul, who wrote 13 of the books that we have in the New Testament.
SPEAKER_00: He introduced Saul to the church and said, No, he's one of us now.
SPEAKER_00: You can trust him.
SPEAKER_00: And then when Saul, who we refer to as Paul, now, he got going in his missionary journeys, he had a guy named John Mark who was young, a little headstrong and probably a little immature, he said, I've got no use for John Mark.
SPEAKER_00: Barnabas said, No, that's okay.
SPEAKER_00: I'll take him.
SPEAKER_00: And we get the book of Mark as a result of that.
SPEAKER_00: When you hear and learn about the name of Barnabas and who he is and what he is, he is indirectly responsible for encouraging men who wrote over half of the New Testament.
SPEAKER_00: In this passage, we see that he shared with the church what he received.
SPEAKER_00: We can't make up these stories.
SPEAKER_00: These are stories that are true and that God gives us as a record of what he's doing in and through his church.
SPEAKER_00: Unity in the Spirit is a powerful thing.
SPEAKER_00: It helps direct our energies toward the things that most honor God and serve each other.
SPEAKER_00: There's a second spiritual truth that we can glean from this passage, and that truth is that motives matter.
SPEAKER_00: With the example of unity that we see within the church and Barnabas' personal testimony and example, we see an authenticity that acknowledges God's sovereignty and the personal responsibility of those who were part of the church.
SPEAKER_00: It is a humility that realizes that we can't accomplish God's work without the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: We can't accomplish God's work without the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Ananias and Sapphira, on the other hand, they created a problem for themselves and ultimately the church.
SPEAKER_00: Let's go back to chapter 5 of the first two verses.
SPEAKER_00: But a man named Ananias with his wife Sapphira sold a piece of property, and with his wife's knowledge, he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles' feet.
SPEAKER_00: Now we don't know a whole lot about Ananias and Sapphira.
SPEAKER_00: I don't even know if they were truly Christians or not.
SPEAKER_00: That's another sermon for another day.
SPEAKER_00: But what we do know is that they were a part of this church and they were witness to the radical generosity that they saw all around them and were probably aware of the personal testimony of Barnabas that we just talked about.
SPEAKER_00: They saw this public praise that was being heaped on each other because of the works that God was doing through people and their generosity, and they wanted part of it.
SPEAKER_00: I want that pat on the back.
SPEAKER_00: Who doesn't want an attaboy?
SPEAKER_00: Like all the time, if you start saying something good to me, I will tell you to stop and I will keep motioning.
SPEAKER_00: I live for the good words.
SPEAKER_00: So do we all do.
SPEAKER_00: They matter to us.
SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately for them, their pride and selfishness took them to a decision to lie that was as shocking as the consequence of the lie itself.
SPEAKER_00: They wanted the appearance of being radically generous, but they did not want to part with their resources.
SPEAKER_00: They wanted that praise on their own terms.
SPEAKER_00: Fortunately, Peter, probably through the Holy Spirit mostly, has a prompt response for them.
SPEAKER_00: So those are verses 1 and 2.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what Peter does in verse 3.
SPEAKER_00: Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land?
SPEAKER_00: While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own?
SPEAKER_00: And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal?
SPEAKER_00: Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart?
SPEAKER_00: You have not lied to man but to God.
SPEAKER_00: Quickly, there are three things that Peter points out for us in these verses.
SPEAKER_00: First, all the gifts that were given were voluntary.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone who gave, they gave of their own accord.
SPEAKER_00: They gave as they felt led to give.
SPEAKER_00: Second, Satan filled the hearts of Ananias and Sapphira.
SPEAKER_00: This is not, I'm tempted to sin and I've sinned.
SPEAKER_00: This is a full-on, Satan had consumed Ananias and Sapphira.
SPEAKER_00: The third thing that he points out to us is that they lied.
SPEAKER_00: They definitely lied.
SPEAKER_00: We think they lied to us because we're part of the church, but they didn't lie to us, they lied to God.
SPEAKER_00: And when we lie to God, that's not a good thing.
SPEAKER_00: We've all heard, and every well, and there's one other element to this.
SPEAKER_00: As Ananias was listening to Peter, he didn't even have a chance to respond for himself.
SPEAKER_00: Immediately he breathed his last and he was dead.
SPEAKER_00: And everyone who observed that moment or heard about it, they were what?
SPEAKER_00: They had fear.
SPEAKER_00: There was a great fear.
SPEAKER_00: We'll learn about that again in verse 11.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't get any better with Sapphira.
SPEAKER_00: There's nothing really any different in the story apart with Sapphira, except that Peter gives her a chance to confess.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't even give Ananias a chance to confess.
SPEAKER_00: But for Sapphira, he said, Hey, is this really what you saw the land for?
SPEAKER_00: And she said, Yeah, so much.
SPEAKER_00: And then he again tells her that you should not test the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Her defiance was met with the same fate as Ananias.
SPEAKER_00: And then when word spread what happened to Sapphira, great fear came upon the whole church.
SPEAKER_00: And that's it.
SPEAKER_00: Let's talk, stock up, stop.
SPEAKER_00: It's easier for me to say.
SPEAKER_00: Let's stop and talk about that for a second.
SPEAKER_00: This is the first time in the book of Acts that we have a reference to the word church.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 5, everyone who heard it had great fear.
SPEAKER_00: But in verse 11, we see a reference to the church.
SPEAKER_00: This gathering of people, this gathering of people who were following Jesus and was growing dramatically has started to take on a formal structure.
SPEAKER_00: And here we see for the first time a reference to the church.
SPEAKER_00: This is a group of people that are now formally understood.
SPEAKER_00: We will see this word for the church 22 more times throughout the book of Acts.
SPEAKER_00: This is not just, hey, everyone was heard about it, and it was like, oh, I'm really afraid.
SPEAKER_00: Interestingly enough, as shocking as this story and testimony is, it's actually not the first time that we see God demonstrate this level of judgment.
SPEAKER_00: Luke chose his words intentionally in describing the sin of Ananias.
SPEAKER_00: Back in verses 1 and 2, he said, Ananias, you kept back.
SPEAKER_00: That word that he used for kept back is another word that means to pilfer or to embezzle, and it also can mean to steal.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you know the story of Achan?
SPEAKER_00: How many of you know the story of Jericho and Joshua and the battle of Jericho?
SPEAKER_00: Well, Achan is a dude who had a problem.
SPEAKER_00: And Jericho was an enemy to Israel.
SPEAKER_00: In Joshua chapter 6, we see how Joshua leads the people of Israel around Jericho and they conquer Jericho, and it's an amazing story.
SPEAKER_00: You need to go check that out.
SPEAKER_00: But all of chapter 7 talks about this guy named Achan and what happened as a result of his actions.
SPEAKER_00: You see, once Jericho was defeated, all the resources of Jericho were available to the people, and God said, You have access to those.
SPEAKER_00: But there are certain devoted things that I want you to keep for the treasury of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Achan didn't pay attention to that command.
SPEAKER_00: And so he took some of those devoted things.
SPEAKER_00: And when he took those devoted things, it set in motion God's wrath and God's judgment on the people of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: What was Achan's sin?
SPEAKER_00: What did he take that caused God to react the way he did?
SPEAKER_00: He took a cloak from Shinar, he took 200 pieces of shekel, 200 shekels of silver, and he took a gold bar weighing 50 shekels.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's not nothing.
SPEAKER_00: But God said, you have access to all of this.
SPEAKER_00: This is for the treasury.
SPEAKER_00: Achan said, boy, I'm just so, I just, I need it.
SPEAKER_00: And so he took it.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what happened.
SPEAKER_00: Because of that, God was placing all of Israel accountable for one man's action.
SPEAKER_00: We don't have time to read the whole chapter, but here is what happened from Achan's sin.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 25 of Joshua chapter 7.
SPEAKER_00: And Joshua said, Why did you bring trouble, bring trouble on us?
SPEAKER_00: The Lord brings trouble on you today, and all Israel stoned him with stones.
SPEAKER_00: They burned him with fire and stoned him with stones, and they raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day.
SPEAKER_00: That's a lot of stones.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, if you weren't sure, it wasn't just stones from one person.
SPEAKER_00: Who?
SPEAKER_00: Israel, the whole community stoned this man because of his sin problem and his deceit and how he violated the word that God gave the people of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: You see, we can't talk about the significance of Ananias and Sapphira without acknowledging the risk and the trap that money and possessions create.
SPEAKER_00: The material possessions that sealed the fate of Achan, Ananias, and Sapphira are the same risks that we face today.
SPEAKER_00: So much of Jesus' public ministry addressed the sin problems associated with possessions and wealth.
SPEAKER_00: You might be familiar with the story of the rich young man in Matthew chapter 19.
SPEAKER_00: It may ring a bell, or he's a young man who came to Jesus and said, What must I do to have eternal life?
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said, You need to obey the commands.
SPEAKER_00: And the young men said, Which commands?
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus listed the commands.
SPEAKER_00: And the young men said, I did all of that.
SPEAKER_00: And then Jesus said, Well, there's one thing.
SPEAKER_00: If you want to be perfect, there's one thing you must do.
SPEAKER_00: You must go, sell all of your possessions, give to the poor, and then come follow me.
SPEAKER_00: And what did that young man do?
SPEAKER_00: He walked away dejected and sorrowful because he did not want to part with his possessions and he had great wealth.
SPEAKER_00: When you read or hear about that story, if you're like me, I put it in the context of the 21st century American view of wealth and possessions.
SPEAKER_00: You might think about, man, this was a guy talking to the person of Jesus Christ himself, and he, his possessions and his wealth kept him from following God.
SPEAKER_00: Well, you might think he was worth millions, tens of millions or more.
SPEAKER_00: In reality, he was only worth about$300,000 in today's dollars.
SPEAKER_00: Possessions and wealth as they grow, don't, they don't cause us to be tempted.
SPEAKER_00: Possessions and wealth of the exist, period, on any on any level are a temptation for us to be distracted.
SPEAKER_00: It's voluntary.
SPEAKER_00: We must respond to it accordingly.
SPEAKER_00: As we freely receive, we should freely give.
SPEAKER_00: Our opportunity to be in relationship with the Lord is predicated on something that none of us did.
SPEAKER_00: Why would I not want everyone else to experience the goodness of and the greatness of who God is through his son Jesus and what he's given us?
SPEAKER_00: The problem with Ananias and Sapphira wasn't that they held possessions back.
SPEAKER_00: The problem with Ananias and Sapphira was they characterized their gift as more than it was and believing they could get away with it.
SPEAKER_00: There was no prerequisite that you had to sell everything.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 4, Peter said, the land you owned was yours.
SPEAKER_00: And when you sold it, the proceeds were yours.
SPEAKER_00: You didn't have to give, you didn't have to sell the land, and you didn't have to give it all.
SPEAKER_00: You could have kept the portion that you had, but they went all in and said, nope, I'm keeping this portion, I'm claiming it all.
SPEAKER_00: And they dealt with a serious consequence as a result.
SPEAKER_00: Our motives matter.
SPEAKER_00: There's one other spiritual truth when we think about this passage, and that is that God takes sin seriously, and we are prone to sin.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you can't not be a little shocked about the story of Ananias and Sapphira, right?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's a pretty heavy consequence for that one action.
SPEAKER_00: And part of my shock, if I'm honest, part of my shock, if I'm honest, is that but by the grace of God I'm just as guilty.
SPEAKER_00: And so are you.
SPEAKER_00: God is just.
SPEAKER_00: He's a just God and he will never reward sin.
SPEAKER_00: He's so pure he can't be near it.
SPEAKER_00: It is in his full purview that he can judge our sin.
SPEAKER_00: This holy week, we have a reminder of what God did to address that sin through the promise he gave in the Son of His Son Jesus Christ, who became the pardon for our sin because he never committed a sin.
SPEAKER_00: He took our place on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: And next Sunday we will gather and we will celebrate his resurrection, and rightly so, for it is the moment that set the whole world in motion on what makes Jesus, God, and Christianity different.
SPEAKER_00: We still sin and fall short of his glory.
SPEAKER_00: But he provides us the Holy Spirit to help us keep in step.
SPEAKER_00: Keep in step, it's one of our marks, right?
SPEAKER_00: How are we being sensitive to the Holy Spirit?
SPEAKER_00: One of the ways that we're sensitive to the Holy Spirit is recognizing the importance of repentance.
SPEAKER_00: When we sin, there is collateral damage.
SPEAKER_00: When we sin, there is collateral damage, especially when it's in light of what God is doing in and through his church.
SPEAKER_00: You see, the closer we move to God's presence, and I've been on this journey especially since last year, I want to be more in God's presence.
SPEAKER_00: As we move closer to the center of God's presence, his light brines ever sharp ever brighter on the blemishes that I bring.
SPEAKER_00: We walked through this presence-centered life study written by Bill Elliff last fall as a church, and one of the key elements that he brought up in this book was the need for immediate repentance.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to what he wrote.
SPEAKER_00: We must embrace the process if we are to remain in his presence and grow.
SPEAKER_00: You see, this fear that the people exhibited in verses 5 and 11 was not a fear of terror or being scared for our safety.
SPEAKER_00: It was a fear of reverence.
SPEAKER_00: It was a fear of acknowledging who God is.
SPEAKER_00: And when we acknowledge who God is, he will help us know where we fall short and what we need to do.
SPEAKER_00: Repentance is when I change my mind and direction from where I'm going and I turn it toward God.
SPEAKER_00: And we see the beauty of what the fear of the Lord means to us throughout the wisdom literature, but particularly in Psalm 111.10, we see that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: All those who practice it have a good understanding.
SPEAKER_00: His praise endures forever.
SPEAKER_00: You see, in reality, this passage that we study this morning together will only make sense.
SPEAKER_00: It will only make sense if you believe that God owns it all.
SPEAKER_00: Either God owns it all or he doesn't.
SPEAKER_00: You get to decide, and your actions will dictate what your decisions are.
SPEAKER_00: So what do you do with this passage?
SPEAKER_00: I think there are two ideas that can help us as we think about this passage and apply it to our walk with the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: The first thing we need to do is we need to understand our source of power when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior and receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: This weekend I got on ChatGPT and got my electrical engineering degree.
SPEAKER_00: And I went to Michael and I said, Michael, I need you to help fabricate for me a couple of things.
SPEAKER_00: I had to look up the word fabricate to make sure I used it correctly.
SPEAKER_00: I'm holding in my hand two plugs.
SPEAKER_00: This is a plug.
SPEAKER_00: We plug this into our outlets, like our computers and our microwave.
SPEAKER_00: This is a 110 plug.
SPEAKER_00: And then we plug this plug, this big guy, in, and we plug this into our outlets, and this would be like for our dryers, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so if you're not familiar, just trust me, I'm a layman.
SPEAKER_00: I now have my engineering degree.
SPEAKER_00: These are two plugs.
SPEAKER_00: You don't need to know anything about electricity or power, but if you wanted to get more power out of these two plugs, which one would you choose?
SPEAKER_00: You would choose this one in case you were uncertain.
SPEAKER_00: This is a one.
SPEAKER_00: This 220 power is more significant than this 110 power.
SPEAKER_00: And the Apostle Paul gives us an amazing resource to help us know what that 220 power is in Galatians 2.20.
SPEAKER_00: He writes, I have been crucified with Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.
SPEAKER_00: And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
SPEAKER_00: What is your and who is your source of power?
SPEAKER_00: Is it Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Is it the Holy Spirit?
SPEAKER_00: I think the second idea that we can take away this morning is just a simple don't quench the spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Obedience is the catalyst that activates the power of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: We are called to obedience, and that obedience is the catalyst that activates the power of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: As the Holy Spirit reveals to us, and he reveals to you and he reveals to me, do we have the courage to trust him and to be bold in our response?
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes our culture gives us a distorted view of what being bold is.
SPEAKER_00: It's not always about being bigger and louder.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it looks like this letter that I received earlier this year in an envelope with a tithe check.
SPEAKER_00: Dear Revived Leadership, thank you for preaching and teaching us to obey the prompting of the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: It was on my heart that I was withholding the first fruits of my salary during 2025, even though it was not much.
SPEAKER_00: Here is my tithe.
SPEAKER_00: Financial security is an area where I personally struggle to truly trust God, even though He has always generously provided.
SPEAKER_00: I pray that I learn to turn this area of my life over to God and become a joyful giver.
SPEAKER_00: Listen.
SPEAKER_00: Until then, I will choose to obey the Spirit and the things the Bible instructs us to do.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for continuing to teach us the uncomfortable truths that will lead me to the fullness of God's presence.
SPEAKER_00: That's the first letter I've gotten ten years right there.
SPEAKER_00: That is an amazing testimony of humility and recognition of what God wants to do in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: You get to choose.
SPEAKER_00: Don't quench the spirit.
SPEAKER_00: For you this morning, your struggle may not be money, or your struggle may be completely money.
SPEAKER_00: Your struggle may be just responding to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I pray that the boldness that you can exhibit this day could be one of just taking a step of courage and faith to meet with one of our prayer partners who will be around the room.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's a chance for you to come and connect with the Lord in a way that He will reveal to you the power of His Spirit because it is Christ who lives in you, not you.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we love you.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you for how you pursue us.
SPEAKER_00: We thank