The Power Of The Holy Spirit - [Acts 4:32-5:11]

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Well, I'd invite you to take a Bible and open it to the book of Acts. We're going to be in Acts chapter 4, powering all the way through to chapter 5, verse 11.
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It's going to be a frightening, dizzying even, sprint through multiple passages here today.
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I have a list for you because I like lists. You know that. And I really like this one.
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Some of it, you know. These are historically selfish acts.
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I mean, these are incredibly selfish acts. Number 8 on this list.
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A man fakes seizures at restaurants. Andrew Palmer of Baltimore made a name for himself, at least in the world of selfish dine and dashers.
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And he got away with this for years. He would go into a restaurant, order something expensive.
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After he consumed it, fake a seizure. The ambulance would come in and take him out.
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And he would get away with it because his tabs were under $100, which was considered a misdemeanor.
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Finally, he was convicted for not paying an $89 restaurant tab. And he received five years in prison.
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I like that one because he got his just rewards there. You could say he even got dessert.
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Thank you. A man was afraid to lose his girlfriend. She was very cute.
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So he overfed her for a year so that she doubled her weight. Then he asked her to marry her, and she said yes.
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I don't know what that says. Number 6. A man fakes suicide to get out of a wedding.
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He calls his fiancée and pretends to be his father, said that the son had committed suicide.
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She, of course, calls the man's mother to offer her condolences.
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That's when she finds out that he's not dead. His confession, I'm a terrible, awful person.
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I know I shouldn't have told her I was dead, but I didn't know what else to do. Man up.
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Then there's the man who called in a bomb threat so he wouldn't miss his flight. And he got arrested for it, so he didn't make the flight anyway.
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Number 2 on the list. A woman faked her own abduction.
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I didn't want it just to be guys. Faked being kidnapped to avoid going to Christmas parties.
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She had an eating disorder, so instead of going to all these parties, she staged her own abduction.
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Two days later, she appeared looking disheveled and claimed she had been kidnapped. When police started getting suspicious, she broke down and admitted it was all a hoax.
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She was given a 12 -month sentence. This is the worst. Number 1.
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A man stopped a train to recover his cell phone. This is like what we're talking seven years ago.
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A man's riding the New Jersey Coastline train. When he dropped his cell phone between cars, thinking quickly, he pulled the emergency brake, bringing the train to a screeching halt.
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He was arrested and charged with defiant trespass and interfering with transportation.
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Selfishness. Something that besets us all, but I think we're going to see selfishness brought to a whole new level in our...
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Selfishness and really hypocrisy in our text today. Acts 4, beginning in verse 32.
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Verse 32. Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul.
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And no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.
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And with great power, the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the
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Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them.
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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.
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And it was distributed to each as any had need. Thus, Joseph, who was also called by the apostles
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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.
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But a man named Ananias and his wife Sapphira sold a piece of property.
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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.
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But Peter said, Ananias, why has
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Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land?
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While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal?
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Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.
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When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last.
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And great fear came upon all who heard of it. The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.
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After an interval of about three hours, his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.
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And Peter said to her, Tell me whether you sold the land for so much?
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And she said, Yes, for so much. And Peter said to her, How is it that you have agreed together to test the
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Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.
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Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in, they found her dead.
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When the young men came in, they found her dead. And they carried her out and buried her beside her husband.
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And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard these things.
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Now just kind of bring us up to where we are in this book. Book of Acts, the
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Acts of the Apostles. We could also call it the Acts of the Holy Spirit because the spotlight really turns to the
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Holy Spirit and His work in the church. Well, after the apostles healed the man born lame,
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Peter and John, when they'd gone to this prayer meeting at the temple, they were arrested in prison and put on trial before the
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Sanhedrin. And Luke tells us that the apostles were filled with the
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Holy Spirit. Even while they were on trial. Peter shifts the ground of the trial and points out what the trial was really all about.
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It was about a good deed done by the power of Jesus Christ. They'd healed this man who had been born lame and lived that way for more than 40 years.
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And of course, even the Sanhedrin cannot punish them for doing a good deed. That would be very unpopular.
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So they're forced to release Peter and John, but not before giving them a warning, which is, stop preaching about Jesus Christ and the resurrection.
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But that warning had to be disregarded. As Acts 4, 19 and 20 says,
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Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge.
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For we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. The growth of the church, which began on Pentecost, continues, but persecution, the
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Sanhedrin, begins to persecute the church. How would the church respond?
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What would God himself do to protect the church? And this morning we get some answers here.
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We have three illustrations of what the Holy Spirit is doing here to protect the church.
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First of all, the Holy Spirit brings unity and holiness to the church.
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Secondly, the Holy Spirit sanctifies believers. And thirdly, the
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Holy Spirit purifies the church. So he brings unity and holiness to the church, he sanctifies believers, and he purifies the church.
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First, the Holy Spirit brings unity and holiness to the church. Look again at verse 32, and we see unity on display now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul that's a good description of unity how is it possible that a church of 5 ,000 or more could be so unified well we don't have to look back long just looking at the context verse 31 and when they had prayed the place in which they were gathered together was shaken and they were all filled with the
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Holy Spirit and continued to speak the Word of God with boldness the
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Holy Spirit was running freely among the believers there in Jerusalem they were continuously speaking the
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Word of God with boldness if we just think about this way you know if we could live kind of if there was a
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BBC compound and we could just always be together kind of like the camping trip that some of you like to go on what would that be like you might think well it could get old maybe it would maybe but the psalmist wrote this in Psalm 133 said behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity and there's truth in that what's better than being among believers you know do you think well
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I'm glad that church is over now I get to go back into the world I heard that snort we don't think that way why because we like being with our brothers and sisters in Christ recently there's been a lot of attention drawn to I'm gonna
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I'm gonna say it this way an alleged revival in Kentucky on the campus of Asbury College there's several reasons to be suspicious of the the claims being made there you know all that I mean you know first of all
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I'm just amazed when unbelievers are excited about a revival that strikes me as curious but when you start reading you start researching some of this some of these sessions were led by professing
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Christians who also you know I mean you read some of the tweets it was led by people of color okay and how about homosexuals that's problematic if you're a professing
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Christian and you're a homosexual and why would you make that you know that that's your identity yes
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I'm a Christian but I'm also a homosexual I'm also on the whatever that the scale of whatever they pretend to say about gender why would you do that why would you identify yourself in that way it's because that in your mind that identifies you even as we saw in Luke and as we're going to see this morning what happens when holiness comes in contact with sinful man it's more like Isaiah chapter 6 holy holy holy is the
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Lord God right and I say it says whoa whoa is me right
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I'm undone Peter says get away from me
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I'm a sinful man not you know these are my sins
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I'm going to list them isn't that good holiness versus sin holiness wins every time nobody is going to stand before God and and proclaim their sinfulness and you know with joy and you know like that's their identity wrong what brings unity the truth brings unity the spirit brings unity sin and the practice of sin that doesn't bring unity it brings disunity truth proclaimed truth believed in the spirit of truth none of those things happened at Asbury College I don't want to spend much more time on that in fact
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I won't but let's consider a church that's commended for unity let's turn for a moment to Philippians chapter 1 fact
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I have a commentary on the book of Philippians and the title is one word and the word is unity that's what the whole book is about the whole letter just gonna read verses 8 through 11 of Philippians chapter 1
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Paul writing this church commending them you know you have the book of Galatians where he blasts them in the opening chapter but this is starkly different verse 8 for God is my witness how
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I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus it's that desire to be with brothers and sisters in Christ verse 9 and it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more what is the
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Church of Jesus Christ to be known for it's love but look what he says he doesn't just stop there he's not talking about emotion look he says with knowledge and all discernment what causes unity knowledge discernment yes love but it's the knowledge of the truth a zeal for discerning truth from error verse 10 so that you may approve what is excellent you look at things and you approve what is excellent not what is base or sinful and so be pure and and blameless for the day of Christ for that judgment day you're being purified by the word goes on filled with the fruit of righteousness the word working through you through the
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Holy Spirit bringing forth that fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God that's what generates unity that's a picture of unity is that church in Philippi let's go back to your acts the point being that God unifies the church around truth not emotion the church in Jerusalem was of one heart and soul because the gospel was being proclaimed here are three three markers of this
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Jerusalem church first selflessness selflessness as opposed to selfishness verse 32 the second part of it and no one said that any of the things that belong to him was his own but they had everything in common imagine a community in which no one you know said use the word mine and just kind of you know reached out and protected all their stuff talk about this all the time you know who teaches kids how to be selfish you can go to the nursery on any
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Sunday morning and if there are two kids in there there's going to be selfishness somebody's going to want something that somebody else has that's just the nature of us as fallen creatures we want stuff but when everything is ours instead of mine then things are distributed more effectively we don't really worry about what's equitable or fair but only what meets the needs of those in the church and of course in our sinful world what happens to something that does not belong to us you know in other words like let's say a good example are we concerned when we see a public bus go by and it has something you know scrawled on it some graffiti or we pass a public building and it's got something on it well it might bother us a little bit but how about if somebody tags your house somebody spray paints on your car it's a little bit more personal we care about things that are ours that are mine the willingness to put the needs of others before your own that's the essence of agape love that's the essence of love period right we want to put the needs of others before our own but we often struggle to do that but in this church in this group they were able to do that because they were filled with the
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Holy Spirit second marker of this church boldness boldness look at verse 33 with great power power of the
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Holy Spirit they were doing signs and wonders the Apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the
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Lord Jesus the Sanhedrin said don't do it so they did it why because they needed to obey
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God and great grace was upon them all inside the church there was unity outside the church there was evangelism the resurrection that they were preaching about really is at the heart of the gospel a faithful preacher must proclaim that Jesus alone can redeem being the only man who would ever obey the law perfectly right the second
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Adam first Adam failed he was told do this and live and he failed
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Jesus did this he perfectly obeyed everything the father commanded a faithful preacher must proclaim that Jesus alone is
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God he's fully man and he's fully God he's the only man who would ever be and he's deity that he is always existed that he's eternally begotten of the father a faithful preacher must proclaim that the substitutionary death of the
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Lord is the only means by which our sins can be forgiven he
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Jesus voluntarily died on behalf of sinners but a faithful preacher of the word must also preach the resurrection without the resurrection
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Paul wrote that we are of all men to be most pitied if Jesus is still in that grave there's no hope for us why because our sins are not forgiven the
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Sanhedrin hated the resurrection why because it showed how powerless they were how hard -hearted they were they were the ones who moved the crowd and got
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Jesus put to death they wanted him put to death and the idea that he's alive that destroyed everything that they work so hard to achieve third marker this church they were meeting the needs of the church look at verse 34 there was not a needy person among them not a needy person among them 5 ,000 people how did they do that look again at the text 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
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Apostles feet donations the pattern is sold brought offered right there in your text sold brought and then laid at the
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Apostles feet but really the the picture is of an offering they would bring it in and lay at the
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Apostles feet the idea is they're offering it to the Lord Jesus Christ these offerings were not compelled they were not commanded they were voluntary may
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I say this have you ever had an unbeliever raise this passage and go see you Christians have it all wrong you're supposed to sell all that you have get get your get rid of your house sell it get rid of your land down there on the
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Cape sell it give it to the poor that will get rid of the the poor that will solve the problem they try to convince you that this early church here in Jerusalem was some sort of Marxist utopia after all it was
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Karl Marx who said from each according to his abilities to each according to his needs and isn't that what they're doing here the rich gave the poor received perfect there are a couple problems one is this is a narrative this is description not prescription this is not a command the big problem of course is human nature we don't like to do this this is a special work of the
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Holy Spirit but we think of this principle here of giving to others of considering others is more important than ourselves
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Jesus said this he said do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal why did
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Jesus command that because it's hard it goes against our natural inclination we want to pile up stuff without it what will we do with those hoarder shows we'd have nothing there would be none of those things but these believers filled with Holy Spirit are not greedy they're thinking of others first it's reminiscent of Galatians 5 the fruit of the
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Spirit right what does the Holy Spirit produce in believers you just listen it sounds like this
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Jerusalem Church love joy peace patience kindness
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I don't need this you take it goodness faithfulness gentleness self -control
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I have enough against such things there is no law and those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires if we live by the
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Spirit let us also keep in step with the Spirit let us not become conceited provoking one another listen envying one another
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I don't care what other people have I have all that the
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Lord has blessed me with that's enough for me and look at how they were distributing things verse 35 and it was distributed to each as any had need it's how the church was fulfilling really the
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Old Testament concept Deuteronomy 15 for but there will be no poor among you how are they going to avoid having any poor by the generosity of the rich the sacrifices of others so we've seen our our first act of the
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Holy Spirit in this church the Holy Spirit brings unity and holiness to the church second act of the
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Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit sanctifies believers specifically we're given a specific illustration here of Barnabas I keep wanting to call him
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Barnaby I don't know why Barnaby Jones or some old TV show that I never even watched
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Barnabas look at verse 36 thus
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Joseph who was also called by the Apostles Barnabas you know why a lot of these guys get nicknames because they would use the same first names over and over and over again you can only have so many
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Joseph so many Jude's you know etc and eventually you have to go okay let's call this guy but look at this
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Barnabas which means son of encouragement a
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Levite and a native of Cyprus sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the
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Apostles feet so who's Barnabas just briefly who's someone because of his behavior because of his affect maybe just the way he smiled you know every time
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I I read this I'm just reminded you know I hate to just name people but it just made me think
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I was just thinking of Spencer Canard the whole just like just sounds like Spencer he's just such an encouragement that's the idea forget about Spencer for a minute but the idea is he's just such an encouragement to the
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Apostles that they're just like you know we can separate this Joseph from all the other
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Joseph's let's just call him son of encouragement by the way I was reading about Barnabas here's what they can't figure out and some of you experts in Greek and Aramaic and all that will understand this bar means son of but no matter what they do with the rest of the word they can't figure out how they get encouragement out of that so it's some kind of nickname that just sort of Luke knows and he's the associate of the
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Apostles so we will just go with that that that's his name he's the son of encouragement what a name like others in the book of Acts he kind of gets introduced in a pretty casual almost nondescript kind of way
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I mean they they could have Luke who's writing this could have used any number of examples
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Barnabas Joseph here isn't the only one to do this but he focuses on Barnabas why because Barnabas is going to become a significant character later this is how you write a book right you start out and you think hmm how am
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I going to introduce characters and he does this a lot we're gonna see this with Saul where Saul is just basically hanging on to the coat right when
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Stephen gets stoned to death and then Saul becomes a character in the in the story he introduces them in a kind of an a you know incidental way and then develops him later on Barnabas is a
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Jew who was born on the island of Cyprus which is off I mean it's interesting to me that Greece and Turkey used to fight over this island because it's off the off the shore basically of of Turkey and then
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Syria are the two closest countries to it and you know Greece is just kind of trying to Bogart it in there that's that's historical there but he is kind of the the servant and the just the encourager par excellence and look what he does if you look back at the text verse 37
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I underline these words here sold brought and laid it right he sold the land he brought the money and he laid it at the other words he made an offering of it following that model so why did the church do this why did they follow this model and note again it wasn't commanded this is just what they were voluntarily doing
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James 2 verses 14 and 17 what good is it my brothers if someone says he has faith but does not have works can that faith save him and the answer of course is no faith takes action if a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food and one of you says to them go in peace be warm and be filled without giving them the things for needed for the body what good is that so also faith by itself if it does not have works is dead so what the church in Acts would in Jerusalem here is doing they're actually doing what faith says
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I see somebody in need I'm going to meet that need Galatians 6 verse 10 so then as we have opportunity to let us do good to everyone and especially to those who are of the household of faith
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Barnabas did exactly that the Holy Spirit brings unity and holiness to the church secondly the
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Holy Spirit sanctifies believers Barnabas was acting in a whole other plane than most of us would very sacrificial because he understands these things are temporary he's thinking about eternal things he's thinking about the the welfare of others and thirdly the
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Holy Spirit purifies the church and we have kind of the Barnabas is the good example the example of things done well well
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Ananias and Sapphira are the example of what happens when you don't do things well verse 1 but a man named
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Ananias with his wife Sapphira sold a piece of property so far so good sold then what are they supposed to do brought right and then they're going to offer right well yeah sort of I want to just draw your attention to the first word in the
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Greek there or first word in the English but be the second word in the Greek we see that we think well that's a contrast we have
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Barnabas and now we're going to see Ananias and normally that word but can be a real slight contrast in this case it's a lot more of a contrast than the word in and of itself would identify because all go south right after the sold part look at verse 2 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
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Apostles feet now this is a bit of a conspiracy as a police officer
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I used to like conspiracies because it made for an easy felony arrest you know sometimes like you have to like felony arrest it what what two people do what they agree to do could be like small potatoes they could agree to go in and steal ding -dongs out of the store but if they agreed beforehand to do that that's a conspiracy which made it a felony so you're like of course they'd never get charged with that you know but on my stat sheet showed two felony arrests and that's all that counts and that's what this is this is a conspiracy and Ananias and Sapphira look his wife's knowledge they talked about this they sold this property with an eye toward gaining approval for what they were really not doing they wanted to make it appear like they were better than they were
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I don't know about you but I have a little bit of a legalistic background you know you can go to church on Sunday in the
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Mormon Church and look great leaving aside what you did Monday through Saturday listen to just Paul writing in 2nd
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Corinthians 9 7 talking about giving and this isn't a sermon about giving but just think about this about what this says each one must give as he has decided in his heart not reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver then think about Ananias and Sapphira were they cheerful givers they didn't really want to do this but they felt like they should do something why because a lot of other people were and they had something they had something they could give so instead of giving all of the proceeds from the sale they were going to keep some and give the rest because they wanted the appearance of being sacrificial this was a spiritual fraud that they were trying to perpetrate so here comes
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Ananias just kind of sauntering in to see Peter I like use the word saunter because Pastor Mike always says saunter they're just gonna saunter in so Ananias saunters in he expects exactly what
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Barnabas and others had probably gotten they walk in everybody's like oh here comes somebody who sold some property and look they're gonna give this offering and laid at the
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Apostles feet people are probably I don't know maybe they were really dopey and applauded
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I don't know what they did but whatever the normal was it got interrupted verse 3 but Peter said
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Ananias why Satan filled your heart to lie to the
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Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land it's like the whole spotlight everything just stopped in the spotlight came right on Ananias what do you think he was thinking right then
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I mean his heart rate probably went from a nice 75 80 to about a hundred and eighty panic the idea of being caught had never occurred to Ananias why because only two people knew just Ananias and Sapphira it's our little secrets we'll look good everybody will think we're just like Barnabas and he walks in and Peter uncovers him
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Peter does blame Satan here but not in a way that excuses
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Ananias Ananias had done what's at the root of every sin mark this down what is it that motivates sin you could say it's sinful nature it's all these kind of things but ultimately it's disbelieving
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God go back to the garden what happened here comes Satan Adam Eve to Eve ultimately
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God's wrong this is just me summarizing it God's wrong okay
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God's wrong that's what happens here Satan had convinced
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Ananias that he could put one over on the Apostles it's just Peter it's just those dopey guys and they're just go in there and act like everything's cool like you know what you're doing you'll just be like everybody else by the way that verb translated to keep back has a connotation of theft one dictionary listed this way a type of skimming operation and when you think about it that's exactly what he was doing the same verb is used of in the
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Septuagint of Achan when he keeps what is supposed to be devoted to the
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Lord he keeps a portion of that so that's the idea the scam was to pledge the full value of the sale this land to the work of the
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Lord then skim some off the top because nobody would know but this isn't just to Peter that this is happening
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Peter doesn't say you lied to me how could you do that steady said you've lied to the
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Holy Spirit verse 4 while remained unsold did it not remain your own and after it was sold was it not at your disposal in other words at any point you could have stopped this you could have just said you know after further consideration instead of the hundred
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K we can only afford to give 50 K whatever it was why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart you have not lied to man it's not just me but to God the
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Holy Spirit is God it's all voluntary you didn't have to do this but the finger of blame is clearly pointed at Ananias you did this verse 5 when
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Ananias heard these words he fell down and breathed his last and great came upon all who heard it so how did
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Ananias die we don't know but certainly God determined that he was going to die it certainly was
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God who executed this punishment it's a stark reminder of how seriously
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God views sin instant judgment this is what every sin deserves and we sometimes just gloss over that yes
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I'm a sinner will every sin deserves this kind of judgment great fear the word went out that if you say you're going to give you say you're gonna sell that property in Pensacola and give the proceeds the church you better make it happen don't try to make yourself look better than you are
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Hebrews 1031 is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God that's what happened that day and Ananias had no advocate that day he had no idea that the living
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God was with Peter until it was too late now some people are gonna say was Ananias a believer
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I don't know he obviously was a professing believer he wouldn't have been in the church is he in heaven
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I don't know text doesn't tell us that's really not the point here the point is the power of the spirit verse 6 the young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him after an interval of about three hours his wife came in not knowing what had happened these young men had gone out buried and Ananias and there was nobody around to run and tell
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Sapphira probably nobody interested in doing that anyway everybody was like I'm not gonna mess with the
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Holy Spirit but the situation was Sapphira is a little bit different imagine you're her you and Ananias have agreed for the sake of your reputations to appear to be generous whatever the reason you're gonna keep just a portion of what you've agreed to donate again the portion isn't the issue could be 2 % could be 80 %
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I don't know but among themselves they're just thinking nothing can go wrong nobody knows it's our little secrets she's at home she starts thinking what's taking
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Ananias so long this is no big deal you just walk in you drop it off you know you come back and I don't know maybe stop by the bank or the cleaners after a while she starts thinking something's wrong so what do you do if you're
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Sapphira you start thinking well I'm gonna retrace his steps and eventually at some point during your thinking you go well
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I I'm just gonna go and see if you know there's some kind of maybe he did other things first then went and saw
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Peter who knows I'll just start there or I'll go there maybe you're not as casual
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I mean I think Ananias just kind of strolled in there I don't know if she strolled in I don't think she's got that much confidence not now not after three hours but Peter asked her in verse 8
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Peter said to her tell me whether you sold the land for so much again the amount is not the point so Luke doesn't even record the amount and she said yes for so much agreeing with what he said you know you read that you just go
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Sapphira Sapphira the officer wouldn't have asked you if you didn't know the answer and you just lied bad move you know it's like you're watching one of those shows you just go don't lie don't lie but Peter said to her verse 9 how is it that you have agreed together to test the
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Spirit of the Lord behold the feet of those who buried your husband are at the door and they will carry you out immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last when the young men came in they found her dead and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband she was as guilty as Ananias was he didn't say
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Peter didn't say you know what your your head the man responsible for the decision -making in the home decided this so you're free to go they were both guilty
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Ananias and Sapphira had conspired together to see if they could pull this off they were confident they could that morning it started with them in agreement and the day ended with them buried together what's the result verse 11 and great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard these things today when we see people just trifling with the
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Spirit of God the Holy Spirit and ordering him about or throwing them around you think of this passage and you just think you people don't understand the
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Spirit of God at all he is fully God he's fully divine he's as much
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God as the father or the son no difference and also notice that the grace of God which was abounding here the grace of God in this church is not a license to sin if it were
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Ananias and Sapphira would not have been struck down after all they were just following their own hearts they were just following the desires of their hearts the grace of God is a license if I could put it this way what is the grace of God enable us to do give us license to do to obey to please
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God not to disobey not to try to make ourselves look good they knew the gospel they'd heard the gospel they professed to believe in Jesus Christ they professed to believe in his life his death his resurrection his ascension and his soon return they believed all these things they said and then they lied to the
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Holy Spirit let's pray father we thank you for this difficult passage even as we struggle with all the issues surrounding it trying to figure out where they really believers did they just have some bad ideas and go astray we don't know here's what we do know it's clear here that the
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Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins not so that we could sin some more but so that we could die to ourselves and live for your glory help us increase our holiness our desire to obey even the training of our consciences by the reading of your word that we might not sin against you and that we might never be so presumptuous as to think we can as it were we sin in many ways and we thank you that the