SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Fort St.
SPEAKER_01: John Alliance Sermon Podcast.
SPEAKER_01: I'm Nate Perry, the youth pastor here at the church.
SPEAKER_01: We're so glad you've joined us today.
SPEAKER_01: Our desire as a church is to become a community of people who practice the way of Jesus together and, through the empowering of the Holy Spirit, live on mission to meet the social and spiritual needs of the world around us.
SPEAKER_01: Each week we gather as a community to worship, learn from God's Word, and to be encouraged in our walk with Christ.
SPEAKER_01: In this podcast, you'll hear the latest message from our Sunday service.
SPEAKER_01: Whether you're listening from right here in Fort St.
SPEAKER_01: John or from afar, our prayer is that God will speak to your heart and strengthen your faith.
SPEAKER_01: Let's lean in together as we hear today's sermon.
SPEAKER_00: Good morning.
SPEAKER_00: My name is Pam.
SPEAKER_00: I've been attending this church for 28 years now.
SPEAKER_00: And uh currently I am serving mostly in the youth ministry.
SPEAKER_00: It is my pleasure to bring to you a passage of scripture that really impacted me as a teen because it really showed me a lot about God's character.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm reading from Acts 4, starting at verse 32.
SPEAKER_00: All the believers were united in heart and mind, and they felt that what they owned was not their own.
SPEAKER_00: So they shared everything they had.
SPEAKER_00: The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God's great blessing was upon them all.
SPEAKER_00: There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need.
SPEAKER_00: For instance, there was Joseph, the one the apostles nicknamed Barnabas, which means son of encouragement.
SPEAKER_00: He was from the tribe of Levi and came from the island of Cyprus.
SPEAKER_00: He sold a field he owned and brought the money to the apostles.
SPEAKER_00: But there was a certain man named Ananias, who with his wife Sapphira sold some property.
SPEAKER_00: He brought part of the money to the apostles, claiming it was the full amount.
SPEAKER_00: With his wife's consent, he kept the rest.
SPEAKER_00: Then Peter said, Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart?
SPEAKER_00: You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself.
SPEAKER_00: The property was yours to sell or not sell as you wished.
SPEAKER_00: And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away.
SPEAKER_00: How could you do a thing like this?
SPEAKER_00: You weren't lying to us, but to God.
SPEAKER_00: As soon as Ananias heard these words, he fell to the floor and died.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone who heard about it was terrified.
SPEAKER_00: Then some young men got up, wrapped him in a sheet, and took him out and buried him.
SPEAKER_00: About three hours later, his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.
SPEAKER_00: Peter asked her, Was this the price you and your husband received for your land?
SPEAKER_00: Yes, she replied, That was the price.
SPEAKER_00: And Peter said, How could the two of you even think of conspiring to test the spirit of the Lord like this?
SPEAKER_00: The young men who buried your husband are just outside that door, and they will carry you out too.
SPEAKER_00: Instantly she fell to the floor and died.
SPEAKER_00: And when the young man came in and saw that she was dead, they carried her out and buried her beside her husband.
SPEAKER_00: Great fear gripped the entire church and everyone else who had heard what had happened.
SPEAKER_00: This is the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Pam.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, good morning, everybody.
SPEAKER_02: It's good to be with you today.
SPEAKER_02: Um, just so you know, uh the lights are not red.
SPEAKER_02: I am red.
SPEAKER_02: So if uh if you're wondering if we added some filter, I am the filter today.
SPEAKER_02: Uh this is a result of uh not putting on sunscreen when you should put on sunscreen and not thinking about how hot the sun actually is.
SPEAKER_02: Uh so anyway, lesson learned on my end.
SPEAKER_02: So try not to be too distracted by my red glean coming from me this morning, but just thought I'd say that.
SPEAKER_02: I have a story here that I want to just share with you off the hop here.
SPEAKER_02: In 1722, there was a small group of refugees fleeing across Europe looking for refuge for their faith in Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: They came across an estate of a young German nobleman named Nicholas Zinzendorf.
SPEAKER_02: They settled in a village called Hernhut, which means the Lord's watch.
SPEAKER_02: But the problem was, while they all loved Jesus, they didn't really agree on much else.
SPEAKER_02: They didn't really see eye to eye on everything.
SPEAKER_02: They argued over worship styles, traditions, preferences, you name it.
SPEAKER_02: They argued.
SPEAKER_02: It was marked by more of what they didn't agree on than what they actually agreed on.
SPEAKER_02: Recognizing this tension that's growing, though, Zinzendorf began meeting with people individually, calling them to repentance, forgiveness, humility, and this renewed devotion to Christ.
SPEAKER_02: He said, This is the most important thing that we need to be about.
SPEAKER_02: Rather than focus on changing everyone else, everybody who was a part of that started to be challenged to let God deal with their own hearts first.
SPEAKER_02: Instead of looking at the person next to them, they said, Lord, what are you doing in me first?
SPEAKER_02: How do I need to shift?
SPEAKER_02: And then something remarkable happened on August 13, 1727, during a service.
SPEAKER_02: Many reported this profound expression of God's just of just of just of sorry, of just him in the room, his just omnipresence moving.
SPEAKER_02: They were sharing sin with one another, relationships were reconciled, pride gave way to being humble, and this community expressed this deep sense of unity in Christ.
SPEAKER_02: Everything shifted.
SPEAKER_02: One of them later wrote, We learned to love one another that night.
SPEAKER_02: That's what happened.
SPEAKER_02: What followed was extraordinary within this group of people.
SPEAKER_02: They established a 24-hour uh uh prayer meeting that actually went around the clock.
SPEAKER_02: They've tracked it for over.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, everybody just stay calm for a second.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, we're we're just about all back in here, so uh while there's a few more coming in, I just want to say thank you, everybody, just for that.
SPEAKER_02: Uh uh we recognize that sometimes those can feel like an inconvenience.
SPEAKER_02: Uh they can startle you.
SPEAKER_02: Same here.
SPEAKER_02: Um, however, uh we love you, and this is an act of wanting just to make sure that if this kind of thing were real, that we actually knew what to do.
SPEAKER_02: It's an act of saying we want to keep you safe, and so that's all a part of it.
SPEAKER_02: So it is an important piece for us.
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't happen all the time, uh, but we appreciate your love and your grace in that.
SPEAKER_02: So um I'm gonna try to pick up where I left off here, and uh so I think I remember where I was.
SPEAKER_02: Talked about a prayer meeting that went kind of around the clock for about a hundred years, was this group.
SPEAKER_02: They went on to become one of the most influential missions in history.
SPEAKER_02: Ordinary people, like just, I mean, a tradespeople and farmers crossed across oceans to share the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: Their life was marked by shared responsibility, this care for one another, prayer, being generous, and a deep commitment to Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: This missionary impact of this group led to villages all over the world, places everywhere, Greenland, North America, Africa, and beyond.
SPEAKER_02: Their influence helped shape the spiritual journey of so many people, including John Wesley, who would go on to be a catalyst of one of the greatest movements in England.
SPEAKER_02: So let me ask you this question, with those people in mind, because I love their story.
SPEAKER_02: I love the story of those people, how they just gave of themselves, how they just poured into all that they were asked to pour into, how they decided they were going to do something together, they were going to be on mission for Jesus in this passionate way, and we are still talking about them today.
SPEAKER_02: So let me ask you this question: How do we become the kind of people that are remembered like that?
SPEAKER_02: How do we become the kind of people that are remembered like that?
SPEAKER_02: What kind of formation in us needs to happen for you and I, for that kind of expression of the gospel to be seen in Fort St.
SPEAKER_02: John?
SPEAKER_02: What needs to happen for that to be true of us?
SPEAKER_02: The church is not short on all kinds of examples of what on the surface looks like the ideal church.
SPEAKER_02: Let's not make a mistake, just because they did so many things good, they still had issues, like they did.
SPEAKER_02: They still had things they had to deal with.
SPEAKER_02: But we love looking at what the church can be.
SPEAKER_02: In fact, we have this perfect ideal of what we hope the church will be.
SPEAKER_02: That's why so many people tend to church hop from time to time.
SPEAKER_02: We are craving just that picture of perfect Christian community, aren't we?
SPEAKER_02: It's got to be good on the stage for music, it's got to be good things going for kids and youth programming, good at the pulpit, all those things.
SPEAKER_02: But more than anything, deep inside, we want to be a part of something bigger than ourselves.
SPEAKER_02: We were made that way.
SPEAKER_02: You were wired for eternity in mind.
SPEAKER_02: So it's no surprise that we desire it on this side of it.
SPEAKER_02: There's a story just uh of uh of a man years ago who was looking for this perfect ideal church.
SPEAKER_02: So he found himself asking Charles uh uh uh Charles uh Charles uh Spurgeon, one of the greatest just emity preachers in history.
SPEAKER_02: And so he asked Charles, he said, where can I find the perfect Christian community?
SPEAKER_02: Where does it exist?
SPEAKER_02: Charles Spurgeon replied, I have no idea.
SPEAKER_02: But once you find it, don't go to that church because once you do, it won't be perfect anymore.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: You see, no matter how much we value the ideal, the church isn't made up of just ideas and you know the ideological principles.
SPEAKER_02: It is made up of broken people from all walks of life who bring all their baggage, their preferences, their opinions, their sin.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: We bring all this to the table.
SPEAKER_02: As a result, church is messy, isn't it?
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: Like it's not perfect at all.
SPEAKER_02: It's really messy.
SPEAKER_02: And so instead of the ideal, these just just what what we just I mean, hope the church might be, we experience infighting, hurt, unity as or uh or uh um a uh uh lack of unity, all kinds of things.
SPEAKER_02: We move from us to me.
SPEAKER_02: And when things don't work out, we bring all that baggage down the road to another church when we realize this one's not good enough.
SPEAKER_02: We just keep moving from place to place.
SPEAKER_02: And so this morning, as we are in the book of Acts, Phil, here's what I want to do.
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna look at two snapshots of the church.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm gonna try to be brief here a little bit for us.
SPEAKER_02: Um, we're gonna look at what the church wants to be, right?
SPEAKER_02: So this perfect idea of what we kind of see on paper.
SPEAKER_02: And then we're gonna see a picture of how easy it is to wander away from that.
SPEAKER_02: Of how easy it is to move from a place that's not so great.
SPEAKER_02: And as we do this, here is my prayer this morning.
SPEAKER_02: Whether you've been here following Jesus for a long time or a short time, maybe you're here because someone invited you to lunch later today, that you and I would embrace and live out the truth that God's vision for radical community requires radical honesty.
SPEAKER_02: It is a requirement for it.
SPEAKER_02: We cannot move forward radically in community if there are things that are hidden and things that are unseen.
SPEAKER_02: They have to be brought out into the open.
SPEAKER_02: That if we are to become the kind of people that God can entrust his kingdom work to, it begins with dealing with us, with our pride, our ego, our sin, and bringing those things to Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Right to wrestle those out.
SPEAKER_02: That in order to become we, I need to deal with me.
SPEAKER_02: That's how that works.
SPEAKER_02: That we may become the kind of people that are deeply formed in the way of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: So, with that in mind, if you have your Bible, turn to Acts chapter four.
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna start in verse 32.
SPEAKER_02: Over the last uh two weeks or so, we've been looking at this beautiful moment where this man is next to a gate and he is healed as uh John and Peter walk in.
SPEAKER_02: And John and Peter who do that miracle, they are just, I mean, arrested for it.
SPEAKER_02: They've been charged, they've been just just they're in court over it.
SPEAKER_02: They are told, you cannot do that stuff, you have to stop talking about Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: And rather than cowering, they are emboldened in their faith.
SPEAKER_02: Instead, they're like, no, no, no, we're gonna talk all the more because of what is happening.
SPEAKER_02: How can we not talk about this, they say?
SPEAKER_02: Look at what the Lord is doing.
SPEAKER_02: They are so in on the mission of Jesus, right?
SPEAKER_02: And as a result, the church just continues to grow, right?
SPEAKER_02: The Spirit continues to empower them.
SPEAKER_02: And Luke now gives his second, almost, it's almost kind of like a picture painting of what the church could be.
SPEAKER_02: After these significant moments of the life of the early church, Luke does not miss an opportunity to say, look at what obedience to Jesus can lead to.
SPEAKER_02: Look at what being on mission for him can bring.
SPEAKER_02: Look at what it does, look at what practicing his way looks like.
SPEAKER_02: And so this is what it says in verse 432.
SPEAKER_02: This is a picture of that.
SPEAKER_02: All of them were of one in heart and mind.
SPEAKER_02: All the believers were one in heart and mind.
SPEAKER_02: I love that language, one heart and one mind.
SPEAKER_02: Now understand something.
SPEAKER_02: This doesn't mean that everybody did the same thing, right?
SPEAKER_02: That doesn't mean that.
SPEAKER_02: It didn't mean that you didn't have your own maybe thoughts or perspective.
SPEAKER_02: Everyone has that.
SPEAKER_02: But just like in the church today, it is filled with people with different, just, I mean, passions, gifts, interests, abilities, and all of those things make up this beautiful picture of what the church is.
SPEAKER_02: Some of us in this room have a bend to prayer or music, or you have a gift of evangelism, perhaps.
SPEAKER_02: Some love serving our youth or in kids' ministry.
SPEAKER_02: Others have a passion for all kinds of other ministries that might be going on here and outside of here.
SPEAKER_02: That is what the church is.
SPEAKER_02: We are made up of different people with different expressions, different gifts, talents, and abilities, all coming together for one mission in mind.
SPEAKER_02: That's the beauty of the church.
SPEAKER_02: The idea underneath all of that is that we're working towards the same thing, right?
SPEAKER_02: That we have the same vision to become the kind of people that Jesus wants us to be.
SPEAKER_02: You know, I don't know about you, but I have actually been a part of a few groups sometimes where everybody has a different idea of what we ought to be doing, right?
SPEAKER_02: As far as kind of what's the end goal.
SPEAKER_02: It's frustrating, isn't it?
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: It is difficult when you know when we all have this different idea of what we should be up to.
SPEAKER_02: That gets really hard to get anything done.
SPEAKER_02: Really difficult.
SPEAKER_02: It's hard to accomplish anything.
SPEAKER_02: Even here at this church, we have a just we we have just this in mind of exactly who we are becoming.
SPEAKER_02: It's a vision statement that we have, that we would practice the way of Jesus together, that we'd be empowered by the Holy Spirit, and that we would seek to live on mission to meet the social and uh uh uh spiritual needs of the world around us.
SPEAKER_02: And so, with all of the differences, with all the passions, with all the giftings that we have, we want to come back to that vision that says no matter what you find yourself being passionate for, this is who we want to become.
SPEAKER_02: And that we are going to work towards that as a church family.
SPEAKER_02: We want to come back to this often, that this would be our lens of how we see each other and how we see the world.
SPEAKER_02: In uh in uh in sorry, um uh in uh fact our vision is just like it like it's almost kind of broad in some ways, both in its just, I mean a personal application and how it works among all of us as we practice the way of Jesus together.
SPEAKER_02: Some of you might have this real leaning towards scripture, or you might have a strong practice of Sabbath or fasting or community or whatever it is.
SPEAKER_02: And just a side note, as we actually get to the fall, we're gonna steep in these things even further so that we start learning even more.
SPEAKER_02: How do we practice the way of Jesus together?
SPEAKER_02: So I'm excited about that.
SPEAKER_02: There'll be more to come later.
SPEAKER_02: But as we practice these things, as we learn to become more like Jesus, to do what he did, we then become more open to the spirit.
SPEAKER_02: And then through the spirit, he sets us forth on mission.
SPEAKER_02: He says, now go and do all the things that I want you to do.
SPEAKER_02: For some, it will be mission in the workplace, or it's with your neighbor.
SPEAKER_02: It might be a passion to maybe minister to those who are marginalized, or he's gonna send you way to the far ends of the world to minister to those on the ends of the earth, right?
SPEAKER_02: That is what happens when we are all together.
SPEAKER_02: We are sent out on mission as we're building towards these things.
SPEAKER_02: Here's the point of all that.
SPEAKER_02: We do not have to think the same in order for that to happen.
SPEAKER_02: We do not have to see eye to eye on everything in order for that to be true of us.
SPEAKER_02: It just takes a bigger vision that we can all get behind and living that out together, saying, I'm in.
SPEAKER_02: I'm in with you.
SPEAKER_02: We're in this together, both in these walls and outside these walls.
SPEAKER_02: And so this is what they were doing in the early church.
SPEAKER_02: They are of one heart and one mind.
SPEAKER_02: They are in it together.
SPEAKER_02: It goes on to say this no one claimed that any of his things was his own, but they shared everything that they had.
SPEAKER_02: With great power, the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was given them all.
SPEAKER_02: Out of the surface, part of the vision they had for living the way of Jesus was this deep truth that everything that they had, everything was actually God's first, not theirs.
SPEAKER_02: Everything was God's.
SPEAKER_02: Like it says in James, every good and perfect gift comes from Him.
SPEAKER_02: They recognize it all comes from Him because He has say over everything.
SPEAKER_02: This was their understanding that it was not theirs to hold on to, it's not theirs to grip tightly to, it's theirs to have open hands with.
SPEAKER_02: And say, Jesus, you can have whatever you want.
SPEAKER_02: You see, one of the things that people that we struggle with the most is ownership.
SPEAKER_02: Culturally, the narrative we all hear is if you've earned it, it's yours.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: And we tend to build pretty big egos and all kinds of things based on what we've accomplished.
SPEAKER_02: In fact, it goes so far sometimes that we shy away from helping others who haven't earned it.
SPEAKER_02: Because we feel like, well, they just need to work harder for it.
SPEAKER_02: I remember watching years ago, it was a debate, it was on TV, and and one of the questions for a candidate who was running for office, they were asked this question.
SPEAKER_02: They said, Why should I help people who can't help themselves?
SPEAKER_02: And I remember thinking to myself, what an awful question.
SPEAKER_02: Because that is not Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: That is not him at all.
SPEAKER_02: That is not the way of him.
SPEAKER_02: Let me remind us of the importance of what he has done for us.
SPEAKER_02: For those of you who say, I am with you, Jesus, and you made him number one in your life.
SPEAKER_02: You and I are not saved because of anything that you have accomplished.
SPEAKER_02: Amen?
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: Not a thing.
SPEAKER_02: You are saved solely because of the grace of God.
SPEAKER_02: That is all.
SPEAKER_02: It's a beautiful thing.
SPEAKER_02: It's beautiful that it has nothing to do with anything that you can do or say or earn.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus saves you and I, not because of your merit, but again, solely because of grace.
SPEAKER_02: And so, therefore, we need to be generous because God in his grace towards us has been generous to you.
SPEAKER_02: And you did not earn it.
SPEAKER_02: And you never will.
SPEAKER_02: And so he's inviting you and I be generous as I am generous.
SPEAKER_02: Give of yourself as I have given of myself.
SPEAKER_02: Hold everything with open hands, even as Jesus gave his life with open hands.
SPEAKER_02: He said, Don't hold tightly to anything, because it's all mine, he says.
SPEAKER_02: Everything is his.
SPEAKER_02: A great sign of a Christian community that is thriving is one that is growing to learn how to hold everything we have open-handed.
SPEAKER_02: Growing in generosity.
SPEAKER_02: And as a result, this is they share everything.
SPEAKER_02: They say, What is mine is yours.
SPEAKER_02: And as the apostles continue to preach and give witness to Jesus as to what he's done, they experience grace.
SPEAKER_02: Or, in other words, what they have is they are growing in one heart and in one mind.
SPEAKER_02: They are like, man, we are picking up momentum.
SPEAKER_02: Look at what the Spirit's doing.
SPEAKER_02: Let's keep reading what he says here in verse 34.
SPEAKER_02: There were no needy persons among them.
SPEAKER_02: For from time to time, those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales, and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone he had as he had need.
SPEAKER_02: What a beautiful picture of the church.
SPEAKER_02: Like any other church context, the early church had those in need.
SPEAKER_02: We have people in need here.
SPEAKER_02: The church attracted those with not very much back then, same way the church does today.
SPEAKER_02: Those who are marginalized, those who feel that they're on the outside looking in, because the church is where you can find belonging and community.
SPEAKER_02: You can be fully seen and fully known regardless of what you have done.
SPEAKER_02: It's a beautiful expression.
SPEAKER_02: So, as a part of their vision, they wanted to meet every need.
SPEAKER_02: They said there would be no needy person among us.
SPEAKER_02: When there was need for those who might have owned something, right, you know, like land or property, and not just those who were wealthy, right, but those who had anything, they would voluntarily decide we need to sell something in order to make sure that no one is at need among us.
SPEAKER_02: We need to have loose hands around our things.
SPEAKER_02: So they could be given to those who needed it the most, both inside and outside the church.
SPEAKER_02: There was a central fund where if you had a need, you could go and ask the apostles.
SPEAKER_02: You can go and ask the leaders of the church.
SPEAKER_02: And the people in the church, as it would go down, they would see it go down and they would just say, Let's just keep filling it.
SPEAKER_02: Let's just make sure that it never runs dry because there will always be people in need.
SPEAKER_02: There will always be people that need what we have.
SPEAKER_02: In fact, in verse uh 36, actually, we see this example.
SPEAKER_02: Of it from Luke.
SPEAKER_02: It says Joseph, who was a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas, which means son of encouragement, sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet.
SPEAKER_02: Let me ask you a question in love this morning.
SPEAKER_02: How comfortable are you willing to be for the comfort?
SPEAKER_02: Or sorry, how uncomfortable are you willing to be for the comfort of someone else?
SPEAKER_02: What are you willing to go without so that someone else can have their needs met?
SPEAKER_02: Can I be honest with you for a second?
SPEAKER_02: I don't like how this question sits with me.
SPEAKER_02: Because it reveals something about my own heart that I'm not a fan of.
SPEAKER_02: Because just like anyone else, I can be selfish with my resources, with my time, with my talents, with my abilities.
SPEAKER_02: This question is so revealing to my own heart about how uncomfortable am I willing to be for the sake of someone else.
SPEAKER_02: It's challenging.
SPEAKER_02: But let's face it, we love comfort.
SPEAKER_02: We work for comfort.
SPEAKER_02: We live for comfort.
SPEAKER_02: But look at the year of the church.
SPEAKER_02: They are not marked by comfort, they are marked by radical generosity of Jesus, who gave everything for us.
SPEAKER_02: And as a result, God blesses them.
SPEAKER_02: And with one heart and one mind, they say, we are in this together.
SPEAKER_02: Historically, the church has been known for meeting needs for centuries.
SPEAKER_02: Did you know that?
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: That this is actually a part of who we are?
SPEAKER_02: This is what we see long ago.
SPEAKER_02: Early times in Christian communities, they established the concept of a hospital, looking to meet the needs of the sick and poor, which helped lay the groundwork for modern medical systems.
SPEAKER_02: All the way back during the Middle Ages, monasteries were some of the first organizations to teach reading and writing because they wanted people to be educated.
SPEAKER_02: They were in on education systems long before anybody else was.
SPEAKER_02: There was all kinds of just monastic orders that as a way to to just to just as a way to try to care for people who were just who were, excuse me, as a way to care for people who were poor and marginalized.
SPEAKER_02: They did it through things like soup kitchens and orphanages.
SPEAKER_02: The church was the loudest voice for the abolition of the slave trade, saying boldly that God has made all men equal.
SPEAKER_02: This is our history.
SPEAKER_02: All of those efforts took time, talents, and resources.
SPEAKER_02: They cost something.
SPEAKER_02: They were sacrificial in nature.
SPEAKER_02: None of that just happened because they wanted it to.
SPEAKER_02: People had to say we are going to give of ourselves in order for these things to be true.
SPEAKER_02: This is why we do the generosity prayer right here in our own church, to remind ourselves that we are called to be generous like Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: It is just something that we do all together.
SPEAKER_02: So it always stays in the forefront of our minds.
SPEAKER_02: So how do we become that kind of people that live that way?
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: I have two just I mean practices.
SPEAKER_02: I'm going to give one of them now and one in just a few minutes.
SPEAKER_02: Here is one simple practice in order to build what it means to be generous.
SPEAKER_02: What if once during your day, no matter any time during your day, you just paused and prayed, Jesus, what have you given me that can bless someone else?
SPEAKER_02: Or what have you given me that can bless someone else?
SPEAKER_02: Just imagine the kinds of moments of generosity that maybe the Spirit might inspire you to bring in those moments.
SPEAKER_02: It could be as simple as just, I mean you're paying for just just, you know, just, you know, when you're at just Tim Hortons, you know, paying for the coffee and the person in front of you or, you know, person behind you.
SPEAKER_02: Opening up your home for a meal, offer to help a neighbor with a project.
SPEAKER_02: These kinds of things help to build a life of generosity.
SPEAKER_02: Small habits over the long haul lead to a deeper expression of the way of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: It's just long obedience in the same direction.
SPEAKER_02: It's just doing the same things and allowing your heart to be formed by the Spirit's work.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, so that's the first snapshot.
SPEAKER_02: So I'm gonna take a little bit less time with the second stop shot.
SPEAKER_02: But now Luke is gonna show the opposite side of this, right?
SPEAKER_02: This is what it looks like when we're not doing things the way that we ought to be doing.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: We see on one hand, this is the ideal.
SPEAKER_02: Now Luke is going to give us a reality check of what can happen.
SPEAKER_02: Acts chapter 5, 1 to 2.
SPEAKER_02: Now a man named uh Ananias, together with his wife um uh um uh Sapphira, also sold a piece of property.
SPEAKER_02: With his wife's full knowledge, he kept back a part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles' feet.
SPEAKER_02: Understand, this couple would have been like others in the church that would have been joining others and saying, we are going to make sure that no one among us is in need.
SPEAKER_02: And so they would have bought into this vision.
SPEAKER_02: They want to practice generosity, but the difference is they do it for all the wrong reasons.
SPEAKER_02: For all the wrong reasons.
SPEAKER_02: Instead of selling their property and giving the money, which would have been what they said they would do, just like we see others have done, they both agreed we're gonna keep some of it back.
SPEAKER_02: We're actually not gonna share all of it.
SPEAKER_02: What looks like spiritual maturity outwardly is just deep sin inwardly.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: Listen to what Peter says to him in verse 3.
SPEAKER_02: Then Peter said, Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money that you have received for the land?
SPEAKER_02: Didn't it belong to you before it was sold?
SPEAKER_02: And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your just you couldn't couldn't you have done what you wanted with the money?
SPEAKER_02: What made you think of doing such a thing?
SPEAKER_02: You have not lied to men but to God.
SPEAKER_02: In this moment, Peter gets this spiritual gift of this word of knowledge where he sees into what is happening beyond what's being said.
SPEAKER_02: It's this beautiful spiritual gift in which you have a little bit more, I think there's more to that story.
SPEAKER_02: Kind of an insight.
SPEAKER_02: And so he sees this now from the spirit.
SPEAKER_02: He can tell, okay, this isn't all that was supposed to be given.
SPEAKER_02: Peter knows in the spirit how much the land was actually sold for, and Peter, rightfully so and boldly calls him out on it.
SPEAKER_02: And he says, You've let Satan fill your heart.
SPEAKER_02: This is like way back in Genesis when Cain being told by God before he goes off to kill his brother, sin is crouching at your door, don't let it in.
SPEAKER_02: Ananias has let it in.
SPEAKER_02: He has opened the door fully.
SPEAKER_02: He has given it a room, he's given it a bed.
SPEAKER_02: There is room for it to stay.
SPEAKER_02: This is why Jesus is so drastic about dealing with sin, about trying to cut it off.
SPEAKER_02: He says, if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.
SPEAKER_02: What he means is we need to get serious about it.
SPEAKER_02: You need to get serious about your sin.
SPEAKER_02: Let me ask you this question.
SPEAKER_02: Are you as serious about dealing with your sin as Jesus is?
SPEAKER_02: Are you as serious about it as he is?
SPEAKER_02: Years ago in my second year at Bible college, there was about four or five students that were on my floor, and all of a sudden they were going from room to room, and they said, we just get the sense from Jesus that there's a lot of sin in this whole dorm that no one's talking about.
SPEAKER_02: And so later on tonight at midnight, we're gonna have a fire outside, and I want you to bring whatever you might have that needs to go into the fire because we're gonna deal with the sin that's among us.
SPEAKER_02: And at first I was like, man, that sounds really bold.
SPEAKER_02: And I got thinking, okay, Lord, what is there of mine that I'm maybe holding on to?
SPEAKER_02: Where is there sin, that secret that I have to let go of?
SPEAKER_02: To my amazement, nearly every guy was at that fire that night in that dorm, about 150.
SPEAKER_02: And it was so dark, you couldn't see everything that's being necessarily just that was just, I mean, in the fire.
SPEAKER_02: But what you could tell is there was freedom happening.
SPEAKER_02: As there were men who were saying, I don't want to live this way anymore.
SPEAKER_02: This is my sin.
SPEAKER_02: I'm going to be rid of it now.
SPEAKER_02: It was an incredible moment.
SPEAKER_02: It was beautiful to watch.
SPEAKER_02: It was such a beautiful expression.
SPEAKER_02: But you see, we need to put sin to death, right?
SPEAKER_02: Known sin that you tolerate, known sin that you put up with, sin that you continue to go back to, that you make excuses for, that you just say it's okay because nobody knows about this, it's not hurting anybody.
SPEAKER_02: It's fine.
SPEAKER_02: That is cancer to the church here, friends.
SPEAKER_02: It is.
SPEAKER_02: Do not make the mistake that what you do on your own does not affect the rest of us.
SPEAKER_02: It actually can.
SPEAKER_02: It has that possibility.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: See, but not only, though that's who jumped back to the story, not only have they sinned in this day, have lied to the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: You see, they have said to the church, we are going to give what we have, but the deeper promise that they made was to God and they lied to him.
SPEAKER_02: They said out loud to the church, we will be generous, but to God they said not so much.
SPEAKER_02: Peter says, How could you do such a thing?
SPEAKER_02: How could you lie to God like that?
SPEAKER_02: How could that happen?
SPEAKER_02: They wanted all the praise of this generous moment, but none of the sacrifice for it.
SPEAKER_02: They want everyone to say, good job, but have it not cost anything for them.
SPEAKER_02: It is so easy to fall into this trap where what we do for God just becomes a means to feed our ego and our pride.
SPEAKER_02: We do it for the compliments, the prestige, the adoration.
SPEAKER_02: Where you don't serve Jesus because of your devotion to him, but for the praise of other people.
SPEAKER_02: Can I just say this?
SPEAKER_02: God hates that.
SPEAKER_02: Actually hates that.
SPEAKER_02: It's his name and it's his just, I mean, a glory.
SPEAKER_02: It's all his.
SPEAKER_02: It's never been ours.
SPEAKER_02: And it is a dangerous game to say, right?
SPEAKER_02: Because Jesus says this in uh Matthew 7.
SPEAKER_02: Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_02: He goes on to say that there will be many people who will do great things for me, right?
SPEAKER_02: He goes on to say this.
SPEAKER_02: Many people who will do fantastic things, who will be elders in a church, who will lead a small group, who will serve as pastors, who will witness to their neighbors, who will lead great ministries, and who ultimately are only doing it for themselves and for their own ego and for their own pride.
SPEAKER_02: And he says, I will tell them at the end of all things, when they are standing before me, I don't know you.
SPEAKER_02: I have no idea who you are.
SPEAKER_02: It is fully possible to have a knowledge of Jesus, even a saving knowledge of Jesus, and still not really know who he is.
SPEAKER_02: Did you know that?
SPEAKER_02: Knowing is devotion.
SPEAKER_02: To know him, really know him.
SPEAKER_02: To be formed by him and changed and transformed by him.
SPEAKER_02: It's living for him and not for you.
SPEAKER_02: Here's a question I think is really important.
SPEAKER_02: It comes from uh Rich Velotis.
SPEAKER_02: He asked this question that every one of us should ask from time to time.
SPEAKER_02: Am I on a journey to really know Jesus or have I been using him for my own benefit?
SPEAKER_02: That's an important question we all should ask from time to time in our journey with Jesus.
unknown: Right?
SPEAKER_02: Because if the answer is if it's just for us, think of the chaos that brings to churches.
SPEAKER_02: Think of the harshness that that can bring, the pain and the heartache that it that it has.
SPEAKER_02: When you have people that are out for their good first, it's painful.
SPEAKER_02: It's really painful.
SPEAKER_02: But Peter calls this out, and I'd love to go in another sermon here.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not going to go into another sermon here on church discipline, but look at what happens in verse 5.
SPEAKER_02: He says, When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died.
SPEAKER_02: And great fear seized all who heard what had happened.
SPEAKER_02: Then the young man came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out to be buried.
SPEAKER_02: The first youth event right there.
SPEAKER_02: About three hours later, his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.
SPEAKER_02: Peter asked her, Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, she said, This is the price.
SPEAKER_02: Peter said to her, How could you agree to test the spirit of the Lord?
SPEAKER_02: Look, the feet of the men who buried your husband are standing at that door, and they will carry you out too.
SPEAKER_02: And at that moment she fell down at his feet and died.
SPEAKER_02: Then the young men came in and finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband.
SPEAKER_02: And then this last verse, great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about all these events.
SPEAKER_02: Okay?
SPEAKER_02: Now this is key here.
SPEAKER_02: For anyone in the room who's watching this moment happen, if they know anything about what just happened, what happened to back back in the Old Testament law, this is a familiar story because we see this all the way back in Joshua.
SPEAKER_02: This same thing happens where somebody steals from the people.
SPEAKER_02: And then as a nation, they go out for a battle and they end up losing because of the sin that was among them.
SPEAKER_02: It affects all of us.
SPEAKER_02: It's not just for one person.
SPEAKER_02: Death follows both stories because you see, in the context of community, sin affects community.
SPEAKER_02: It gives the enemy a foothold, it provides an open door for him.
unknown: Right?
SPEAKER_02: So God deals with it here in the book of Acts, both Ananiris and his wife fall down dead.
SPEAKER_02: Just imagine that moment.
SPEAKER_02: And then they're all watching this happen.
SPEAKER_02: But God does that because he wants the people to know that number one, I am still the same yesterday, today, and forever.
SPEAKER_02: That what you saw before, I can still do now.
SPEAKER_02: So don't ever think that I can't.
SPEAKER_02: And then ultimately he hates sin.
SPEAKER_02: He still hates it.
SPEAKER_02: That even though the grace of Jesus has come, thank the Lord it's come, that we all still need to take our sin seriously because God does, because the punishment for it is death.
SPEAKER_02: That's what it is.
SPEAKER_02: You see, here's the big idea here.
SPEAKER_02: Nothing short circuits the church living in radical community like sin that is undealt with and unconfessed.
SPEAKER_02: Nothing does.
SPEAKER_02: Radical to live that way in that kind of sense of community requires radical honesty.
SPEAKER_02: It means that you and I need to be willing to be fully known, no facade, that we need a practice of confession with each other.
SPEAKER_02: This should be commonplace.
SPEAKER_02: Here's a good rule of thumb that helps here.
SPEAKER_02: You should have one person in your life that knows about you what only God knows about you.
SPEAKER_02: And if you're married, I'm not talking about your spouse.
SPEAKER_02: You need one other person that you can share this practice of confession with that knows about you what only God knows about you.
SPEAKER_02: This is the quickest way in which we can say, God, we care about what happens here among us.
SPEAKER_02: I had a friend of mine years ago.
SPEAKER_02: We met for three or four years for coffee every probably Tuesday morning, kind of thing at around 6 a.m.
SPEAKER_02: It was fantastic.
SPEAKER_02: I loved our time together.
SPEAKER_02: And then one day he says to me, He says, Dan, I think we should probably share our whole lives together, right?
SPEAKER_02: You know, all of our sin, all of our stuff.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, nope.
SPEAKER_02: That doesn't sound good.
SPEAKER_02: I just like coffee.
SPEAKER_02: I just like right, you know, this going on.
SPEAKER_02: But but I'll never forget he said to me, He said, Dan, I need to get these things off my heart because someone needs to know these things about me that's not my wife.
SPEAKER_02: And I thought, man, I'm sure there's things about me that I need to share.
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02: And so we had this moment where we actually met together and we just shared our whole lives, a full life, just I mean, a confession.
SPEAKER_02: We shared all of our sin, all of our hurt, all of our hang of all those things.
SPEAKER_02: It was so freeing.
SPEAKER_02: So freeing to get a lot of.
SPEAKER_02: I remember after it was done, I remember he looked at me and he said, Dan, I've never felt more weightless in my entire life.
SPEAKER_02: I've never felt more weightless.
SPEAKER_02: We had a fantastic, just I mean, friendship going forward.
SPEAKER_02: There was nothing hidden between him and I.
SPEAKER_02: I knew everything he'd ever done, he knew everything I had ever done.
SPEAKER_02: Nothing was secret.
SPEAKER_02: See, but this is God's bar for his church, friends, right?
SPEAKER_02: That if we want radical, generous, kind church community, that it has to start here.
SPEAKER_02: It has to start with dealing with what is going on inside, it has to start with confession of sin.
SPEAKER_02: It has to start with not hiding anything from anybody.
SPEAKER_02: It needs to start with getting those things on the table, with not giving sin a room to breathe, with not opening the door.
SPEAKER_02: We need to do it that way.
SPEAKER_02: And so this morning, here's what I want to do.
SPEAKER_02: We're actually gonna switch things up a little bit here.
SPEAKER_02: I'm actually gonna ask the band not to come up.
SPEAKER_02: We're actually just gonna finish with me praying, then I'm actually gonna lead into a benediction here.
SPEAKER_02: Because I want to give time for this prayer.
SPEAKER_02: I don't want to have this feel rushed here in this moment.
SPEAKER_02: And so I'm gonna pray.
SPEAKER_02: But just before I do that, though, here's a practice that I think would be really helpful that I'd like you to think about it.
SPEAKER_02: Two different things that you can do as far as how we can build this kind of church community.
SPEAKER_02: Practice confession with one another.
SPEAKER_02: Practice confession.
SPEAKER_02: There's one thing that I meet with, uh, or sorry, like there's another friend that I meet with about uh once a month or so.
SPEAKER_02: And we are really good friends, we know lots about each other, and we have had this practice of sharing the things that are hard to share.
SPEAKER_02: And at the end of every time we meet, he looks at me and says, Dan, is there anything else you haven't said that you need to say?
SPEAKER_02: And then I say the same thing back to him, and then more often than not, there's something I need to share and confess.
SPEAKER_02: There's something that comes out that just wasn't right that week, wasn't right that month, that needs to come out.
SPEAKER_02: Practice this with one another.
SPEAKER_02: Find one other person in your life that can know about you what only God knows about you.
SPEAKER_02: This is key.
SPEAKER_02: And then a daily examine, right?
SPEAKER_02: So I love this prayer.
SPEAKER_02: It's just a simple way at the end of every day that you might just pause and have a short account with Jesus, that you would ask him questions that matter to the heart, that might just start to reveal in you what is not quite there, right?
SPEAKER_02: And so there's three questions.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus, where did I notice your just omnipresence today?
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: Just become attentive to the fact that Jesus is all around you and that he's in you and he's working through you, and that there are things that he's doing in and through you, just to start to pay attention to that.
SPEAKER_02: And then the second question, where did I resist God's way today?
SPEAKER_02: Where did I resist God's way?
SPEAKER_02: In other words, where did I sin?
SPEAKER_02: Where did I choose my way over his way?
SPEAKER_02: And then lastly, what are you inviting me into tomorrow?
SPEAKER_02: What do I need to confess?
SPEAKER_02: What do I need to go and ask for?
SPEAKER_02: Just you know, who do I need to confess to, perhaps?
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: These are the steps that are there.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, so here's what we're gonna do.
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna lead through this prayer here, but just as an exercise of just saying, Jesus, we're just gonna give you open hands to our lives for a moment.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, and then when we're done, I just have uh maybe two more things to mention here, and then I'm gonna send you off here.
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: So let's pray this together.
SPEAKER_02: All right, so Lord Jesus, thank you.
SPEAKER_02: That you are at work even when we don't see it.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus, thank you that you care about the deepest parts of our hearts that we keep secret.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus, I know that there are many in this room that are struggling with sin that they are keeping hidden.
SPEAKER_02: That they are letting sit.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, maybe it's what they're watching on their phone.
SPEAKER_02: Or maybe it's how they use their money.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, maybe it's how they treat a coworker when no one else is looking.
SPEAKER_02: Or maybe it's even how they treat their spouse when no one's around.
SPEAKER_02: Or their kids.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus, there is secret sin that can lie deep within our hearts.
SPEAKER_02: And this fear we often have, Lord, is that if everyone knew about me, Lord, what you know about me, they wouldn't want me here.
SPEAKER_02: But Jesus, the exact opposite is true.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus, we are broken people who need your healing, we need your wholeness, and we need you to restore to us what is hurting and just, I mean, broken.
SPEAKER_02: So, Jesus, I just pray right now that you would just start to bring to mind just quietly in our hearts, where is there sin that is unconfessed that we need to deal with?
SPEAKER_02: Where is there sin that is unconfessed?
SPEAKER_02: And so I just want to encourage you with your head to bow and eyes closed, just take a moment just to confess and repent of that to Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: And with those things in mind, Lord, here's just a few questions that we can practice today, that even maybe later on this evening, or maybe even just, I mean, it's just um at another time as well this week we can pause and ask these questions.
SPEAKER_02: But Jesus, where did I notice you in my life, even here throughout this morning?
SPEAKER_02: Or where have I noticed you at work?
SPEAKER_02: Or is there anything in the last day or week or so that that says I've chosen my way instead of your way?
SPEAKER_02: And then Jesus, what are you inviting me into for the rest of the day or even for the rest of the rest of this week?
SPEAKER_02: And so I just pray, Holy Spirit, that you just might fall fresh on us today.
SPEAKER_02: That we might experience what it is to live in such a way of radical kindness and generosity.
SPEAKER_02: But Jesus, would you start with us?
SPEAKER_02: Would you mold in our hearts the things that need to shift and change?
SPEAKER_02: Lord, would we deal with who we are?
SPEAKER_02: Would we deal with our sin?
SPEAKER_02: Would we bring those things forward?
SPEAKER_02: Would we practice a life of confession?
SPEAKER_02: So, Lord Jesus, we just thank you, Lord, for your church, and we thank you that you're not done with us yet.
SPEAKER_02: And we ask all these things in your name.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, just quickly here before you go, a couple things.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, if you're here this morning and you're thinking I need to come up for prayer, please come up for prayer.
SPEAKER_02: There'll be a number of us up here.
SPEAKER_02: We would just love to spend time with prayer with you.
SPEAKER_02: If it is on your mind, it's on God's heart.
SPEAKER_02: So just know that, man, we'd love to pray with you.
SPEAKER_02: Secondly, um, Aaron is gonna be at the back of the room, next step center, uh, to sign up for the uh camp out.
SPEAKER_02: Make sure you get on that because I have a feeling some of those spots are gonna go pretty quickly.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and we would love to see you all there.
SPEAKER_02: So make sure you go sign up for a camping spot.
SPEAKER_02: So um I'm gonna send you off here.
SPEAKER_02: Have a wonderful week, everybody.
SPEAKER_02: God bless.
SPEAKER_02: I pray that you would just experience Jesus in just a felt and tangible way this week.
SPEAKER_02: All right, amen.
SPEAKER_02: See everybody.