Acts 5:12-42
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The Spirit at work
The Spirit at work
The Spirit at work
Last week we saw the impact of being fake, fake Christians do not overcome because their relationship with God isn’t where they like to think it is or should i say have others think it is.
Lets pick up from last week verse 11 said “& great fear came upon the whole church & upon all who heard of these things”.
Not just the church but everyone verse 12-16.
Sometimes God needs to give us a reminder of who he is, that he is God, that we need Him & that without him we are nothing, that we have nothing without Him.
That we find life through Him, our identity in Him & that all the gifting or talents we may have are only because of Him & only used properly in His name & for his name. That He is God & he can do what he wants.
notice something really important in verse 12, many signs & wonders were regularly done, awesome we want to see this, but something else in verse 12 is they were all together. it’s a recurring theme.
This says that they were all of one purpose, they had a single mindedness in faith & purpose to see the purposes of God worked out in each others lives, one people one vision.
Often the fact that God’s people are together all with one accord is a greater display of the power of the Holy Spirit than any particular sign or wonder, our selfish hearts & stubborn minds can be harder to move than any mountain, there are people who will try to bring division into the church maybe come & try to divide this church, bring there hurt & disillusionment, their bitterness because that’s what it turns to when things from their past haven’t been dealt with, These people still want to appear to be right with God to others, but if your gossiping about others, spreading lies or rumours, then what you are really up to is division & division is looked upon in the Bible as witch craft.
As brothers & sisters of Christ we need to be people of the Spirit. watchful not people of fear not letting anyone in but people who ask God for the gift of discernment.
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
There are six things that the Lord hates,
seven that are an abomination to him:
haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,
a heart that devises wicked plans,
feet that make haste to run to evil,
a false witness who breathes out lies,
and one who sows discord among brothers.
Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.
Unity is so important even if you are not the one speaking disunity, but you do nothing to stop it then you are a part of it.
Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.
2 John 1
I believe that what happened to Ananias & Sapphira was a cleansing of the church, this is a time of transition in the church in Acts, the church could not move forward with the issue unresolved. We may think the penalty a little harsh but lets look at another story in the Bible.
Joshua 7:1-26
Achan had transgressed the covenant & because the covenant was with all of Israel, the whole of Israel would suffer because of Achan, which is why they were defeated at Ai.
Achans Sin defiled the other members of the community as well as himself, a similar situation is seen in the Sin of Adam & Eve. Rebellion destroyed the perfect communion that the Human race would have enjoyed with God.
Achans Sin also caused Gods blessing on Israel to be withheld in the battle with Ai, God explained to Joshua in verse
Therefore the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become devoted for destruction. I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you.
& also in chapter
& also in
Did not Achan the son of Zerah break faith in the matter of the devoted things, and wrath fell upon all the congregation of Israel? And he did not perish alone for his iniquity.’ ”
Our Sin doesn’t only affect us, disobedience brings ruin even on the innocent, Sins effects go beyond the initial sinner. His obedience was also an insult to Gods Holiness.
But God gave Achan a chance, a night to consider what he had done & come in repenting.
Get up! Consecrate the people and say, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow; for thus says the Lord, God of Israel, “There are devoted things in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you.”
Joshua 7:13
Achan did not, the things of this world had a stronger pull on his life than the things of God.
Why destroyed his family,
Whoever is greedy for unjust gain troubles his own household,
but he who hates bribes will live.
Proverbs 15:
The nation couldn’t move forward until Achans Sin was dealt with, The same can be said of Ananias & Sapphira.
If we look at these verses we will see that although there was fear, people were desperate for God. God had shown great power through the Holy Spirit, although it says none dared join them, people held them in high esteem.
The same can be said of Ananias & Sapphira,
people would have been in awe at what God had just done & yet more & more people were converting to Christianity, becoming followers of Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit, doing good works, they were coming from every where.
When God shows up in power & his people are obedient to the call & come under the authority of the church, favour comes upon the church, just look at
And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
-49
Explain where we are at the moment & conversation with Gareth (architect) unlimited & God with us.
Explain where we are at the moment & conversation with Gareth (architect) unlimited & God with us.
we need to pray for the team & for the contract, change of mindset.
In chapter 5 God shows up in power, God is doing something here in Boston, an immense witness to the town of his awesome power, of what God can do.
This was an incredible time for the church, people were being healed, the sick were being brought from all over, people were getting saved & the Jewish leaders didn’t like it, they were angry they didn’t see it turning out this way.
Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico.
In we read that the early Christians prayed that God would continue to do signs & wonders verse 12 shows that those prayers were answered.
people being healed, people getting saved in great numbers.
Talk about Rory coming up
i believe it will be a significant weekend for this church & this town.
But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy
verse 17
The sadducees were filled with Jealousy, the Greek word for filled here is Pimplem. it’s most been used for referring to a specific enabling of Gods Spirit some other places this word is used is , , .
The writers of the faith life study Bible write that it may have been used ironically, the religious leaders being full of jealousy testifies to their failure to Spiritually lead Israel to the true Messiah or to recognise their own need for forgiveness in Jesus name.
They try to humiliate the disciples by putting them in the public prison, trying to discredit them & their message.
But an Angel rescues them & immediately they start speaking in the temple under the power of the Holy Spirit, they are again taken in but notice now it’s carefully.
by standing & speaking in the Temple they are showing that Gods purposes cannot be overturned & that the Lordship of Christ is the true power in this Spiritual struggle.
Peter again stands before them full of Gods power, & they want to kill them for it.
what we need to understand from this is that we are not always going to be happy with the way things are done, that’s OK, but you need wisdom don’t get drawn into sin. Gamaliel was very wise you may just find yourself taking the opposite side to God.
as we move into communion i want us to spend some time coming before God asking God to search our attitudes, is there someone we have spoken against, hold things against, maybe we have sinned by agreement because we haven’t brought our brother or sister to account for their actions.
maybe there’s someone that you need to say sorry to or ask forgiveness from.
But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part, for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not.
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.
1 corinthians