Hold it Loosely pt. 1

Welcome to Verse by Verse. Thank you so much for joining us as we take a look at the book of Acts. We take things nice and slowly as we look and see what God is doing in the big picture of expanding the gospel from Jerusalem to Judea and to Samaria and to the ends of the earth. My name is David Humphrey and I'm the pastoral care and missions pastor here at United City Church in Humboldt, Texas. We're excited to be your church family while you're incarcerated, but we're going to be even more excited when you get out and you can come and be a part of our church in person. We love you very much. Please grab your Bible and a journal, perhaps a pen, and be ready to take some notes and let's learn together through the book of Acts. Great. Hey, thank you so much for joining us. Those who are with us online, we're at Verse by Verse and we're going to be in Acts chapter 5. It's going to be a whole lot of fun, but buckle your seatbelts because it's kind of a scary story. I'm going to be honest, if you haven't read ahead in Acts chapter 5, you're going to remember this one and this is one of those stories that will make you think twice about we don't trifle with God. We don't play around with God because God, our God, is a consuming fire and we've seen a lot of great things already in the book of Acts. The church growing and everything, it seems like up until this point, has mostly been what you would say up and to the right. You know what I mean when I say up and to the right? It's like, you know, we're just growing a little bit more and all these good things happening. It just seems like everybody's got it together. Well, everybody doesn't have it together. And when Luke says, well, you know, they were all in unity, you could say that's hyperbole a little bit because he's not meaning everybody was doing everything that they were supposed to do. What he's saying is the majority of this group of people were obedient, were loving each other. So we're going to read a few verses at the very end of chapter 4 just to make sure we got the context so that we understand what's happening in in chapter 5 because it really all flows together. You do have to remember that Luke did not write the book of Acts with these chapters in mind. That's just something men put in a little bit later

to help us organize our Bibles. He didn't write three letters, three, you know, five words and put a number on it. You know, like, okay, here's verse 32 and here's verse 33. That's just modern that we added those things so that we could be able to find the information and so that we could interact with the Word of God. But those numbers and all those things are not inspired the way the words are. So that's why the flow flows straight from chapter 4 to chapter 5. So let's take a look, starting in verse 32 of chapter 4. He says the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own. This is speaking of the believers. But they had everything in common. With great power, the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the Apostles feet and it was distributed to each as any had need. Thus Joseph, who was also called by the Apostles Barnabas, which means son of encouragement, a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the Apostles feet. Now let's pause just for another second. I want to make sure we understand sort of this background what's happening here and then you'll see how it flows right into chapter 5. Obviously we can see that the early church had bold leaders. They were teaching and there's so many different phrases that described the believers. Look at those phrases that describes the believers in 32 through about 34. What were some of those key phrases that Luke used to describe them? What about in verse 32? Same heart and soul. One heart and soul. What does that mean? Unity. That's the word. That's what our pastor has been preaching. That's what Jesus teaches in John chapter 17 and other places. Unity, I love Pastor Chris said a couple weeks ago, is our witness. When we're unified, people take notice. Right? Division, that's just average run-of-the-mill. Everybody's divided all over the world. So unity is our mission. So they were of one heart and soul. What else does it say about them? Had everything in common. Now obviously that

doesn't mean they were a bunch of, you know, everybody was exactly the same. That doesn't mean they all had the same hairstyle or they all wore the same tunic or they all did everything exactly the same way. What is he meaning there when he says they had everything in common? They were sharing everything. So what that would mean is if Nels had a Had a washing machine, that's also my washing machine. That's what that meant, guys. Do you understand? Whatever everybody had, it belonged to them. So Steve's car was also Bruce's car. Problems, yeah. Okay, sharing problems. Yeah, it is. That's what community is about. That's what we're talking about here, guys. They were living in such a way that everybody held their stuff loosely. So, oh, okay, he needs this? Okay, sure, no problem. You know, sometimes we have a tendency to kind of, well, you know, kind of, this is mine. But that's not, they were holding open hands on their property and goods and sharing with one another. So that's a beautiful, beautiful thought and not just a thought, but that's what it means they had everything in common, okay? So what's another thing that it said that was sort of a result of that? Verse 34. Yeah, not a needy person among them. Because if this one has a little bit more and this one has a little bit less, if they have everything in common, things begin to even out. Now, I know this makes it start sounding, oh, are we talking about like a perfect utopian society and everybody? No, that's what we're, I think maybe that's part of the reason for Chapter 5. See, no, it actually wasn't all just going perfect. But in general, they were sharing.

They were, they were, the more, when you have Jesus as your treasure, by the way, I don't know if you've thought about it this way, everything else is easy to hold loosely. Because nobody can take Jesus away from you. You know what? I mean, your 50, your 401k and all that stuff, it can just be gone, guys. If your trust is in your 401k, guys, I mean, don't worry. I mean, I've got a retirement account and I'm thankful that I've got it, you know, for when the time comes. But guys, that's not, our hope can't be there. Our hope is in Jesus Christ. So the more we treasure him, the easier it is to hold the other stuff kind of, oh, okay, you know, thankful to have a car. But you know what? I can share this with somebody else or hold things loosely. So, so that's why there was not a needy person among them because they were just commonly sharing with one another. And the way they were doing that is where it starts to get sort of interesting to me. Not that I'm interested in you guys doing this, but selling their property and entrusting the proceeds to the apostles, and we would kind of translate that into like the church leaders to distribute it. Okay, so here's the thing that we sometimes have a tendency to do when we're reading something in the scripture that just, it seems so far-fetched. We're like, how can people live like that? So we tend to just sort of over-spiritualize it. This is not an, this doesn't need to be over-spiritualized. They were literally taking things they owned, selling things that mattered to them in order to help each other.

That's not something that I see very often in today's church. And by church, I'm not just saying United City Church. I'm just talking about the worldwide church. Why do you think we don't see that kind of thing more often? Fear. What do you think, Brenda? I was just going to say they didn't have a, we don't have a real sense of community across the world. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's a lot of churches that don't have as much community. You know, one of the reasons, maybe I would say one of the top reasons why our church is so much about small groups. So one of the top reasons is for you to be in community. Guys, you can come into a big church like this and you just kind of slip in and you're just like spectator, like you're at a concert. You know what? Let's watch the show. Oh, that was great. Headed back out. That's not, that's not what the church, that's not how Jesus designed the church. Okay? First of all, Jesus didn't, didn't, it was always in these small groups. Remember we went to Acts chapter 2 and we saw the things they were doing? Small groups and having all that community. So sometimes the reason we're not doing it right is because we don't have that sort of community. Sometimes we're so proud. We don't want to let anybody know we have a need. Ever thought about it that way? How could somebody sell something to help me with a need if they don't even know I have it?

You know, so we tend to be kind of a proud people. You know what? I'm going to pull myself up by my bootstraps and I'm going to, I'm going to figure this out. But God's people are more communal and, and they share each other's burdens. Right? And they rejoice when one rejoices and they mourn when one mourns and, and they, and they do life together. So I just want to sort of. Get that in your mind. So again, back to the last one. And would somebody maybe close that door for us just so that we're, make sure that we're not, that there's no distraction because they'll start to be a crowd here real soon. Okay? And that'll be great. So one of the people who was introduced in verse 36, we know 36 and 37 is an important person we're not gonna look at anymore tonight, but that's Barnabas. He's gonna be in a lot of the rest of the story. If you've read ahead, you know, Paul and Barnabas did a lot of things together. He's the son of encouragement. And so he was among these who were selling things that belonged to him. What did he sell that belonged to him? He sold some property. Okay?

It's like, okay, I got 10 acres out in Porter and I don't need that 10 acres out in Porter. I've got a brother or sister in need over here. So I'm gonna sell that. So I've now liquidated. You know what I mean? I don't have a possession. Now I've got some cashflow so that I can actually help a person in need. So that would be a modern day way to look at it. So he sold a field that belonged to him, brought the money, laid it at the apostles' feet. Okay? Now that is with a, he didn't say specifically that the apostles distributed it as each one had need, like it talks about in verse 35, but that's kind of a given in this verse here. That's what he did. He was doing what these others were doing. He sold it. He gave it. He said, guys, you're gonna know better what to do with this cash. You know the people among our number who have needs. I trust you with it. Go bless them in Jesus' name, kind of a thing. Okay? Then we come to this first word of chapter five. But, right?

That can be a troublesome word. Okay? Because you know, it was like all sounding so great, except there was this guy who had a wife. Well, let's read about him. His name is Ananias. Let's read chapter five. And we're gonna read the first few verses here. But a man named Ananias with his wife, Sapphira, sold a piece of property and with his wife's knowledge, kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man, but to God. When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard it. I guess so, right? The young men rose, wrapped him up, carried him out and buried him. After an interval of about three hours, his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter said to her,

tell me whether you sold the land for so much? And she said, yes, for so much. Peter said to her, how is it that you have agreed together to test the spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door and they will carry you out. And immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in, they found her dead. They carried her out, buried her beside her husband. And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things. This is not the kind of passage where you tend to get a lot of amens. We're kind of sitting with our mouths open like, what in the world just happened? And how can I avoid what just happened? Guys, this is very plain. What happened? You can agree with it. You can disagree with it. You can think God was too harsh. You can think whatever you want to, but guys, this is not figurative language. This is not an allegory. This is not a parable. Two real people who were married tested God. He calls it two different things, Peter, when he calls it out. He calls what really three different things.

He calls it lying to who? He said, you think you're lying to men, but you're actually lying to God, which is kind of a silly thing to think about, isn't it? Lying to God as if you're going to deceive him into thinking something that's not true, right? So you're lying, not just to men, but to God. And then they call it testing the spirit. Did you see that in the second one around with Sapphira? Calls it testing the spirit of the Lord. Okay, well, let's just dive right in, see if we can get some understanding. Guys, I think the passage, of course, is gripping. I seem to recall, I think I was in college. The first time I read this, and I was like, what is going on? This doesn't sound like Jesus. This doesn't sound very loving. Help me understand this, God. This is kind of a tough one. It's a very gripping passage, but for me, and just at least in some strange way, there is some encouragement in it to me. And that encouragement is that everything in the church was not just up and to the right. You know what I mean? They were struggling, too. They were having because they were having some hard times, because if you have been a part of a church for any period of time, you know, there is never a time in the church where there are not troubles, where there are not members who fall into sin, where there are not challenges that we have to deal with. That's part of what it is to be church, right, is this one stumbles and we are to come around them and to help them up.

And this one is struggling and maybe they're being tempted in a certain area. So we're to help one another. But in this case, there's a lot to the story we don't know. So we do not have a lot of backstory to Ananias and Sapphira. So remember, when we're reading and we're sort of thinking between the lines, Ananias and Sapphira have a backstory. We just weren't given that backstory. Obviously, the Holy Spirit determined we didn't need that backstory for the purpose of this being in the canon of scripture. Okay, so we've just got to take it for face value and look at what we do see and see what some things are that we can learn. Of course, we see that they are a married couple. Verse one, we just sounds it doesn't really sound that bad. Verse one, a man named Ananias with his wife Sapphira sold a piece of property. Okay, all's well so far. If we hadn't read ahead, we might just think, well, we're just going to hear another story about generosity, you know, just like Barnabas and just like all the rest of these. Okay, these guys are catching on to. Oh, great. Married couples are also doing this. This is awesome. But then what we start to find is the early church actually had the same enemy that the first man and the first woman had. And if you notice, he's actually called out by name in this little passage here. You called it out, right? Satan, that's the enemy. You know, so far, who has been the enemy of the growth of the church? So far, chapters one through four, who have we seen that's been opposing the growth? Yeah, it's been the religious leaders, right? So we've been looking at them. But guys, you just can't forget, they were not wrestling against flesh and blood.

The enemy was the one subtly working his little, he's just crafty work, right? Quietly slithering around and working on this one and working on that one. So that's what we've got that's happening here. The enemy has been at work, but now looks like it's time to name him. This is the work of Satan and no less than that. So let's see if we can try to uncover exactly what went wrong, because it might not be exactly what you thought at first. It got a little tricky to me when I first looked at this when I was back in college. It says, with his wife's knowledge, he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only part of it and laid it at the apostle's feet. Now, think carefully before you answer this question. According to the text, was the problem that they kept something back for themselves? Was that a problem? That's right. That's not the problem. So that's what's presenting as the problem. But guys, that's actually not the problem. Because if you look at verses three and four, what you can see is by the own argument that he puts in there, Peter says, look, why Satan so filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land. Look at his logic, the way he lays it out. While it remained unsold, didn't it remain your own? In other words, wasn't this yours? Like, wasn't it yours if you wanted to keep some for yourself? If you think about it, that's what he's trying to say. Well, this was yours. Why did you need to lie about it? Goes on. Didn't remain your own after it was sold? Wasn't it at your disposal? So now that you've liquidated it, let's say you got, you know, whatever, 20,000 shekels out of it. Wasn't that still yours, too?

You could do with it what you chose to do. You see, they were not telling us that the spirits, the rule, the example here of Acts chapter four is not that everybody had to sell everything and give every penny to the apostles. That's not the example. Did those people do that by example? Yes, they did. But they were not doing that under compulsion. You must do it. But I have this feeling. that the enemy's move, which is usually the same move, was pride. Because the people who were doing all that and giving all their stuff, probably were getting a few pats on the shoulder. Oh, Barnabas, we really appreciate what you did. Oh, have you heard about Barnabas? Man, well, he is the greatest guy, and he was so giving. He didn't even care about that property. He cared about the people of the church more than he cared about that property. And I have a feeling, again, that's sort of reading between the lines a little bit, but that makes, it's clear to me that that could be what happened here. And so Ananias and Sapphira were like, we want a little bit of those accolades. So the problem was not that they kept some back for themselves. What were you gonna say, Michelle? I took it a different way,

and it may be just because of where I'm at in the year of the Bible, but isn't it one of the commandments not to make pledges? So maybe they made the pledge that they were gonna sell the property and give all of it to the apostles, and then they didn't. Okay. Because it says don't make pledges, just say yes or no. Right, yeah, let's just be yes, and let your yet know be no. So yeah, that could be. Doesn't give us that specific, but I think it leaves room for that to have been the case, that they promised it, and you ever heard that over-promise and under-deliver? Right, no, we need to under-promise and over-deliver. Sometimes we make a great big promise to God, I'm gonna do this during the week of prayer and fasting, and then we're like, oh, now it's the week after, and I'm not feeling quite so motivated today as I was. Yes, Denise? Quite often I think people think about their appearance to other people. Yes. Yeah, and oh, everybody else is doing it, and if we don't do it, we're gonna appear greedy. Yes. So we need to say that.

Exactly. And God's comparison is always the thief of joy. You know that, right? Comparison? God's not asking us to compare ourselves, well, she gives more and he gives less, and no, no, no, no, no. Or he's got this gift and she's got that gift. No, every gift is important, and we're all to give our all and our best. So let's look at the way that Peter shares this, because he really goes for it on verses three and four. Basically, what he is saying here is, the problem is not this holding it back, the problem is why you did it, what your motivation was. He gets to the heart of it in verse three, so let's look at it. Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart? So that's basically number one. Just like a true prophet, I mean, he just speaks it, calls it like it is. Look, Satan is in your heart. That's the motivating factor, and Satan is always the author of pride. He is always trying to bring up pride. When you've got a spiritual gift and you're exercising your spiritual gift, maybe it's giving, maybe it's teaching, maybe it's serving, Satan really wants you to like the strokes.

Oh, yes. He loves it when we just, we start kind of puffing up, oh, I guess I am a pretty good teacher. Oh, I guess, I don't know if anybody else doubled their tithe this month like I did, right? You know, I mean, those sort of things, that is, God, Satan, that is fertile ground for the enemy to trap us and lure us in, and then we lose some of the joy, right, of what God wants us to experience in our giving and in our serving. So, first thing he says is, Satan has filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit. Satan, remember, is always about more, mine, me, pride. That's what Satan's, that's his MO. Then he goes on and he says, second thing here, Satan has basically filled your heart. You know what it reminds me of, that word filled? What have we, we've used, we've heard the word filled a lot in the book of Acts, and what's it always been about so far? Filled with the Holy Spirit. Well, this is the first time we've heard about someone being filled with Satan. You know, the results of being filled with the Holy Spirit have been nothing but good things, right? It's been generosity, it's been giving,

it's been serving, it's been seeing the Holy Spirit at work, and now the fruit of Satan-filling is greed and covetousness and looking about this, and he basically says, you contrived this deed in your heart. Kind of saying, like, why did you do that? He's just calling him out. He said, basically, you lied to us, which means you actually lied to God. Guys, this is serious, serious business. Now, I was thinking of a verse that sort of reminded me of this whole process, and would someone look up 2 Corinthians chapter nine? Verses 6 and 7. These are two really great verses about this concept of giving and even withholding, but particularly about giving. Some of these, this is going to be familiar to some of you, some of you might even be able to quote this, but would someone read 2 Corinthians chapter 9 verses 6 and 7 to us? Okay, so do you see how verse 7 is just like speaks to where they were? They were not giving out of a cheerful overflow and so glad to do it. There must have been some sense of compulsion or at very least it was a sense of pride, look at me and what I am doing, okay? But that is a really, really beautiful passage for you to meditate on. That verse 6 specifically is just you sow sparingly, you reap sparingly. That's just an agricultural principle, okay? You sow a lot of seed, you've got a lot greater chance of a better crop, okay? And so this is not just a financial idea, but it is about finances in this specific context. So anyway, back to the story here, back to what he's talking about, we're looking at where where Peter is calling him out and basically what he says is you've lied to the Holy Spirit, why did you do this? Satan has filled your heart and basically he honestly, if you first look at it, he's not blaming what

happened on Satan because he doesn't say it's Satan's fault. He doesn't say when he says here, let me pull it up again, Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart so that Satan did this and Satan kept, no, no, no, no, no. He said, you let Satan influence you, we can say, and then you did this. We're not blaming this on Satan, we're blaming this on you, Ananias. And not just you, Ananias, but who else? Sapphira, right? That's the clear part of the second half of this. So they were doing this together and they had contrived it, they made the plan that they were going to do it, and they executed the plan. And, wow, executed is kind of a scary word in this story, isn't it? So he purposed in his heart to do it and the result is he died immediately. Well, that's not something we see in Scripture very often, this quick judgment. Yes, Dave? Oh, I was gonna ask Dave Pounds over here. I'll come back to you, Dave Eves, over there. Yes. That's right. Oh, yes, he does. Exactly right. It's his to give and his to take away when he chooses, right? Yeah, that's a good point. Very good point. What were you gonna say, Dave Eves? Yeah, it's premeditated. Yeah, that's a good word for it that we use. Yeah, they thought about it. They worked a plan. They were like, hey, this will work. We'll sell it. We'll get it. Denise? Yes. Yes. Yes, he is. Exactly. I could not agree more. That's a well put, Denise. There are unique ways in which the Holy Spirit moves in this season of the church, okay? I mean, I can guarantee you there have been people within our church body who have probably done something maybe not exactly like this, right, but who have tried to put on a facade of greater generosity than what was real. You know, like we all could have something like that. And I've never heard the testimony of any one of them being struck down dead here in the lobby or as they pass the plate, right? And thank the Lord, okay? That doesn't mean God doesn't have the power to do it. or the right to do it, right? Because that's one thing I do want to just say

in this moment. We can be very quick to throw a stone at God in this and say, oh, wow, God, you are being harsh. But let's just pause for a minute. The wrath of God against sin is just wrath, okay? One sin is enough to send any one of us to hell. Because God is pure and holy and spotless. There is no stain in him. Therefore, he is completely just in his wrath. The reason why this stands out to us, I think, perhaps we would even say in the modern church, is we don't like to think about God's wrath. We like to sing songs about the grace of God and the love of God and the mercy of God and all of those things, guys. And those are real. And let's celebrate the amazing grace of God. You know, nobody's gonna be singing a hymn Sunday morning about the wrath of God. You know, I don't look for that to be the next theme, you know, of a sermon series. But maybe it should be, right, guys? The wrath of God is from beginning to end in the scriptures. But we can thank God Almighty that Jesus took the wrath of God so that we would not have to bear the weight of our sin. To your point, Denise, the Father is making a clear point of the seriousness of holiness and of righteousness. Like God is not, we're not just playing around here. We're not just doing religious games here.

Because you know, the old way, the Jewish law and all of the things, guys, there was a lot of empty things that were happening in that. You remember that? We've talked about that, right? A lot of it was show that did not have substance. And what he is, I think one of the points being made here is that's not what the church is gonna be. It's not gonna be show without substance. So see this clearly, what I'm speaking of. Denise? Yes, so what you just said that, and I'm gonna point out, is that in every church, there are those people who are not genuinely safe, but they are the ones that are, you know, I'll head up this committee, and I'll do this, and I'll do that, and that means, yes, and that's kind of the drift of what I get with those things, is that they were not doing the right thing. Yeah, they were not walking in humility, and I think you're absolutely right. This is not how God treats, we don't need to sit around worried about, is God gonna zap me, right? Because maybe some of you have grown up around a religion that maybe, or even family members that taught you, we need to be afraid of God's gonna, you know, you're gonna go out with that boy, and God's gonna get you, he's gonna send,

you know, kind of a thing. That's not what we're talking about, and that's not what this is supposed to make us feel, I don't think, but it does, it is to make us feel the severity and the gravity of who we are actually speaking to. We're talking to the God of the universe, who can wipe this whole thing out, guys. God spoke this world into being, and there will come a time when this one will be gone, guys, and it will be at God's, it will be at God's pleasure when he does, and it will be for his purposes. So there's a lot to be seen here. This is obviously not the common way we see God deal with sin throughout the Bible, okay? But it's not completely unique. In fact, it's so not unique that three hours later, he did it again, okay? So like, happened just a few hours later. I don't know, it was just, wow. Look what happened after he died. Let's look at it. Great fear came upon all who heard it. That might be an understatement. Anybody think that might be an understatement? But isn't it interesting, and I think this, maybe a little thing here that we might miss, that somehow Sapphira didn't hear it. I know, but all who heard it, so I don't know if, obviously,

somehow Sapphira was kept from knowing it. I don't know if that was like a Holy Spirit thing that happened or what, but you know how news travels fast in a community, and especially a small, tight-knit community like this, and I mean, this is not everyday occurrence. Okay, well, God just killed Ananias. Did you hear about that? And so, but Sapphira did not hear. The story makes it very, very clear. After an interval of about three hours, his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. So she just prances in, just like Ananias had pranced in, like, oh, okay, all right, well, let's, you know. Peter's going to give a little interview here. She's clueless, which I think is something of a miracle. Peter gives a little simple interview, you know, just the facts. Let's just get the facts here, right? Doesn't even say as much to her as he said to her husband. Peter says, tell me whether you sold the land for so much? And she said, yep, for so much. All right, that's it. Done. Over. Game over. Yes, he did. He gave her an opportunity to do something different, but she was like, well, keep the cover up, right? The enemy is always about the cover up, and and the light uncovers, right? So, no, we got to get this out in the open. That was her opportunity to come to to confess it. She was not about it. So, Peter says, how is it that you have agreed? What? What's the word? Together. So, he said, can't you just hear him? He's just like scratching his head. You mean not just him, but you both, like you're both in this together. You are complicit. You're both. One is as guilty as the other, and therefore, again, the just wrath of God is about to fall on you as well. This is when he calls it, how is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? What's the test? What are they testing? Yeah, they're testing the honesty. They're testing, is God serious about that? I

don't think they said, hey, let's test God and see if he's gonna kill us if we do this. That's not, that's not what it means. Yeah, I just don't think they realize who they, who God is. I think they were involved in religion and doing things for man's appearance, and you know what Jesus said when he told us to pray? He said, go in your room, get in your closet, pray to the God there, and and let him who hears you and sees you in secret, right? He says, when you give, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Guys, God is not about the big show. He is about the quiet obedience. I'm just gonna tell you, Melva Logan, 85 years of service, was not the big center of the show. Guys, she was just quietly serving in her little corner over 50 years. She taught little kids Sunday school. Guys, that's just faithful for a long period of time, not trying to get man's applause. Well, these guys were obviously getting it, and so basically five, four, three, two, one, you're dead too, goodbye. I mean, that's, that's what happened. I mean, guys, it's just like as fast as you please, and there is, even in the way that this is articulated in the scripture, it was written to be quick, follow it, done, next, move on. You understand there's a lot more story that could have been told around this, but I think we're just going to see it. We need to see God is serious, that this is real, the Holy Spirit actually is holy, set apart, not to be played around with. Verse 11, once again, it says, great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things. So now, I mean, it's really getting out. I guess it would, wouldn't it? Three hours pass, Ananias and Sapphira are both dead, and here's why they died. I mean, you know the word. Everybody's spreading the word. Do you know what happened? Ananias, they held back some money for themselves, and then they walked in there, and they told them, and they lied to Peter, and then they just, he just fell down dead. And do you know what happened next? Sapphira didn't even hear anything about it, and then all of a sudden, she shows up, and they didn't know what had happened, and he said the same one that's going to pull your body out too, and she fell down dead, and they buried him right over there. Guys, that is what happened. They were just telling the story, you know, just like it would be, and so the people are like, oh, okay, I guess

this offering stuff is serious. God sees my heart, not just my outward appearance, and what I'm doing on the outside doesn't matter as much as what's happening on the inside. Okay, so, yes, Michael. God sees our heart, but the unanswered question that I'm seeing here is, did Ananias and Sapphira lie about the amount of money? Well, what it's saying here is they said they were giving all that they had sold, you know, let's say they sold it for $5, and they brought four and kept one for themselves, and they said, oh, yeah, we brought it all. Here it is. We got $4. That's where the lie was. That's where the lie was. So, you see, there's nothing wrong if they chose, we're going to go give 50% of this. Man, what an amazing gift. No, don't lie and say you're giving 100%. That's the point that's... being made here. So that thank you for clarifying that. Yes, Steve. I'm thinking that maybe Sapphira hadn't heard about her husband when she's at the bank making a deposit. Could be, Steve. Leave it to Steve to think of that. Yeah, she might have been home counting the money, is what Paul said. She's home counting. My parents said she was probably at the mall. Yeah, she was at the mall, right? She was out shopping. She was busy. She's like, man, we got something to do here. But listen, I think it's very important. I want us to end with this verse, Galatians chapter six, verse seven. If you take notes, write this down. This is a verse to be memorized and to be lived by. Do not be deceived. God is not what? Mocked. For whatever one sows, that will he also reap. Now, there's more to that passage, and we don't have time tonight to look into that. So read verses eight and nine and all around that. But guys, do not be deceived. God is not mocked. So, guys, you might think, well, I hear God being mocked on TikTok and on all these places, guys. God allows a lot of things to be said and done. But the one who has the final word is God Almighty. So that is what's being said here.

And I think this verse applies perfectly to Acts chapter five. Don't be deceived. You see, Ananias and Sapphira were deceived, and they were deceived by Satan, who was trying to get them to look like the most spiritually proud and such amazing people within the church. They got deceived. Exactly. There's no hiding anything from God. You don't. Lying to God is ridiculous. They're trying to cover things up. Okay, what about how did Peter know at this particular time? Yeah, Peter knew because the Holy Spirit was so strong within Peter that he had a discernment and he had an understanding of what was going on here. Okay, they didn't give it up. Yeah, exactly. He just, the Holy Spirit of God. And then Sapphira came later and said, well, we got five dollars for it. That's right. Yeah. She came and kind of gave the same story. Yeah, he'd already clarified what was wrong with the story. That's right. He said, oh, you're a liar like your husband. Boom, you're dead. Young men, come get her. You can bury her right beside her husband. Big day, guys. It's a big day. Scary stuff. But it's not scary stuff as in we need to be afraid that God's going to do this. This is the fear of the Lord, which is an awe and a reverence and a respect for the Lord. That's what we're talking about when we say scary stuff. They did not have a fear.

Exactly. They just came walking in with their chest all bowed out like we're going to go do something. And God says, well, I'm going to do something, too. And so honestly, he kind of made a point. And they were in reverent awe. Last comment here, Dave. Yeah, arrogance and pride. That's right. Yes. But he opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble, right? And that's not just if you live in humble, right? You got to really be humble and humble. All right. Well, let's look. We're going to close out in prayer tonight. Thank you all for joining us. Father in heaven, thank you for the grace of Jesus Christ. The mercy that you show us each and every day. God, you've had every right. You've had every right, God, to trust in you. You've had every right, God, to treat us in this exact way. God, for the sin that we have committed against you. But thanks be to God that we are under the blood of Jesus Christ, we who have called upon him. And we are so, so thankful that your wrath fell on him so that we could receive the mercy of God. Let us learn from this example. Let us be serious that God cannot be mocked. And let us help others to understand this as well. Thank you for your word in Jesus name. Amen. All right.

Thanks, guys, for joining us tonight. Thanks again for joining us verse by verse through the book of Acts. I hope that you have learned a lot. More importantly, I hope that you'll apply these things to your life this week. Share it with a friend. Great thing for you to just have some discussion with the other people around you. Share the things that God is doing in your life. Again, remember the Bible is a book. about God far more than it is a book about us. So let's learn about him. Let's grow to love him more and more. Here at United City, this is not the only thing that we have on the Pando app. We would love for you to follow some of our other content, watch some of our worship services, along with music and the messages, as well as podcasts. We've got a lot of great content and we would love for you to follow that. Also, if you would like to be in touch with us here at United City, the best way to do that is by writing us a letter. You can address that to Prison Ministry at United City Church, 19901 Townsend Boulevard, Humble, Texas, 77338. We'll read that, we'll pray for you, and somebody will write you back. God bless you, and we'll see you in the word.