Latest / The Holiness Today Podcast / The Preaching Collaborative ep 12: Stephen Willis preaches on "A Spirit-Filled Life"

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The Preaching Collaborative ep 12: Stephen Willis preaches on "A Spirit-Filled Life" · The Holiness Today Podcast

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  Welcome to the Holiness Today podcast. I'm Stan Reeder, Regional Director of
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  USA Canada, and we are partnering with Holiness Today to feature preachers from across the region.
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  We hope these messages will encourage your daily walk with the Lord and help.
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  Music.
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  You feel connected with our region.
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  Great. Look at your neighbor and say, you look great. I'm telling you,
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  I'll look awesome. So if you have a copy of God's Word with you today,
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  we're going to be continuing in our series in the book of Acts.
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  And we're going to get as much through Acts as we can all the way up until Advent.
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  And we're excited about that. And today we're actually going to be looking in chapter 5.
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  And some of you who like to read ahead, you're like, I can't wait to get to
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  chapter 5. I want to see what Pastor Willis says or Pastor Stephen says.
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  And so for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about,
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  you will know here in a second.
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  So as we turn to Acts chapter 5, we today are grateful for the Word of God.
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  If you're grateful for the Word of God, could you say amen?
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  I want you to know today, before I read Acts chapter 5 to you,
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  the Word of God is a dangerous book.
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  I mean, it's dangerous in a good way, but it's a dangerous book.
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  And I also want to say to you that the correct posture toward the Word of God is this.
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  If you read something and you disagree with it, then you need to check yourself. You're wrong.
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  Okay, like that's just the bottom line. I think, and this is not in my notes
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  today, but I think one of the biggest problems with the culture today is we
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  care too much about our own opinions.
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  Okay. We think way too highly of our own opinion. We just think we've got it figured out.
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  We would never admit that to other people because that would make us,
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  you know, not humble, but it's just true.
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  And so today, as we dive into Acts chapter five, we're going to wrestle with a little bit today.
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  And, and I'm grateful today for the word of God. And once again,
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  if you're grateful for it, would you say, hallelujah?
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  Acts chapter five, we're going to read the first six verses today.
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  It says, but there was a certain man named Ananias.
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  You know anybody named Ananias? Probably not.
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  Who with his wife, Sapphira, anybody go to high school with a girl named Sapphira? Probably not.
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  They sold some property and he
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  brought part of the money to the apostles claiming it was the full amount.
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  And with his wife's consent, he kept the rest.
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  And then Peter said, Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart?
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  Wow, what a comment.
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  You lied to the Holy Spirit and you have kept some of the money for yourself.
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  The property was yours to sell or not to sell as you wished.
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  And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away.
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  How could you do a thing like this? You weren't lying to us,
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  but you were lying to God.
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  And as soon as Ananias heard these words, he fell to the floor and died.
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  Everyone who heard about it was terrified. Then some young men got up,
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  wrapped him in a sheet and took him out and buried him. How many of you are encouraged today?
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  Very, someone said. I love that. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word today.
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  And I just pray God today that you would just speak through me and in me and
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  allow me to be hidden behind the cross.
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  Lord, I got more to say today than I have time for. I'm not even sure which
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  parts I'll say, but we just got to believe Lord today that you're going to be honored in it.
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  Because you are good and you're faithful and your word does not return void.
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  And for that, we are grateful. And all of God's people said, amen.
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  We'll be right back with the rest of this episode. But did you know you can
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  Thank you for being a listener and sharing in the ministry of the Church of
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  the Nazarene. Now back to the rest of your episode.
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  Last week, I asked you a question. I kind of set you up. I said,
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  when you think about the early church, like, you know, it said they were all
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  together and one place early in the book.
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  And then all of a sudden it says that they were in one heart and one accord
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  and they were all united.
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  And I ask you, how many people do you think was a part of the early church?
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  And I got you to look at your neighbor and say how many people you thought it
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  was. And I think that a lot of people think it was just, you know, a few hundred people.
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  Where in reality, we realize it was a lot more than that because just in Acts
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  4, verse 4, we hear Luke tell us these words. Let's look in that.
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  It says, but many who heard the
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  message believed. So the number of men who believed grew to about 5,000.
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  So there was 5,000 men. And I made the joke last week that if you don't like
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  megachurches, then you have a problem with the word of God, I guess,
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  because there were 5,000 men being counted right there. That's a pretty large sum of people.
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  And it's essential to get, it's not essential for us to get an exact number.
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  That's not what it's about. But the thousands of people have come to Christ.
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  And then as we look at the scripture very closely, we come to realize that the
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  fact that there's thousands of people, this section of scripture actually has singled out two men.
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  So out of all, there's 5,000 men just in Acts chapter 4, 4.
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  But Luke, the medical doctor who wrote the book of Acts, He has actually singled out two men.
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  And so today, let's look at it again in the first verse of chapter 5.
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  But there was a certain man named Ananias.
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  That's actually the second guy who Luke has singled out.
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  Because at the close of last week's message, I talked to you about the other.
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  You know, here's the thing that you need to know about Acts chapter 5.
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  Preachers aren't lining up to preach on the life of Ananias.
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  They're not like, I can't wait to preach on Ananias. and then I'll get to Sapphire.
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  That'll be even better. No, we're not.
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  However, being unwilling to wrestle with the text would prevent us from learning
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  some powerful truths and lessons.
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  And so just in the last two weeks or so, as I've been reading this,
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  I've been challenged myself.
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  But here's what you got to know. We talk about Ananias, right,
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  in the first part of chapter five, but I need to go back and reclaim what we
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  talked about last week because there's a second person, a second man that we need to look at it.
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  And we find him in Acts chapter 4, verse 36.
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  And some of you weren't here last week, so let me read it to you.
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  So in the end of chapter 4, verse 36, it says, for instance, there was Joseph.
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  And the instance is talking about generosity. Can everybody say generosity?
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  That's what I preached on last week was about the importance,
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  the power of generosity.
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  And so in Acts 4, verse 36, it says, for instance.
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  For instance, in the case of generosity, there was Joseph, of the one the apostles
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  named Barnabas, which means son of encouragement.
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  And he was from the tribe of Levi and came from the island of Cyprus.
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  He sold a field he owned and brought the money to the apostles.
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  Now, I want you to think about this for a second. Joseph lived such an incredible
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  life that those who knew him renamed him Barnabas because that actually means
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  the son of encouragement.
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  So not only did others rename him Barnabas, but unknowingly to him, watch this,
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  this act of generosity of Barnabas actually gets recorded into the best-selling
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  book of all time, which is the Word of God.
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  So Joseph goes from Joseph to Barnabas, so he gets his name changed temporarily.
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  For the rest of his life to Barnabas, which means son of encouragement.
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  And then the single act of generosity, Luke says, this is the example of generosity.
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  Let's look at Barnabas, the son of encouragement, and let's record what's going
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  on here. That's pretty amazing, right?
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  Wouldn't you like for that to be you in history, right?
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  Like, I don't know about you, but if you're gonna remember me,
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  I would like for you to remember my very best moment in life. Can I get an amen?
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  There are some things I'd care you not know about, amen? Like we're all there.
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  So, but here's the thing though.
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  The same can be said for Ananias on the opposite end of the ledger.
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  Because Joseph, whose name becomes Barnabas, the son of encouragement,
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  sells the field and gives all the money to the apostles and it's forever remembered.
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  And Ananias is the opposite end of the spectrum.
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  So then we realize, because what happens is, what Ananias does is Ananias and
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  his wife Sapphira, they see what has happened in the life of Joseph,
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  who's now Barnabas, and that he is getting applause.
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  People are looking up to him and Barnabas can't go anywhere.
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  Everybody goes, there's Joseph, who's now Barnabas.
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  Yeah, he sold a field and he gave it all.
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  And so what's going on here? What's going on here is Ananias is going, well, that looks fun.
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  That looks awesome. And so what he does is him and his wife, they go and sell a field.
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  And then instead of taking the money, which it was his field, and it was his money.
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  So if they would have just simply sold the field and took the money and came
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  to Peter and gave a portion of that money and said, yeah, we give 70%,
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  we're keeping 30% for ourselves.
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  It would have been absolutely fine. But what happened?
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  Ananias and Sapphira decided to sell a field, which was a very good act,
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  and then come to the apostles and actually lie about how much they sold the
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  property for. And so there's the problem.
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  You know, if we are faithful to the text, many of us will have questions that
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  we can't fully answer today.
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  I just want to say, I don't have any desire today to answer all your questions
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  about Acts chapter 5 because I'm not capable of doing that.
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  But what I do desire to do is extract truths and lessons to be learned from what is read.
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  Right? Like, I will say a few things. Notice, read the scripture,
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  Peter did not kill Ananias or Sapphira.
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  Okay, so don't worry. I'm not planning on sneaking up on any of you.
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  I would say that Peter was just as shocked as we were when we read it that he dropped dead.
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  I don't think Peter thought that was going to happen at all.
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  And there's a whole host of things that are going on in this text that people
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  argue about all the time.
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  But here's the trap for many of us. We want to get in and press in on the nature
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  of God and try to understand all that God does.
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  How many in the room today has figured out God? Would you raise your hand?
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  And would you like to come up and speak for two hours about him?
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  No, I wouldn't even let you if you raised your hand.
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  But we can learn some truths about our own life through the example of Barnabas
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  and through the example of Ananias.
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  The first thing is this we need to know is that Ananias acted in deceit.
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  At the close of verse 1, everything is good. Ananias and his wife sold the property,
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  but then in verse 2, look what it says.
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  He brought part of the money to the apostles, claiming it was the full amount. There's the problem.
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  With his wife's consent, he kept the rest.
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  Now, Ananias, I need to ask you, buddy, why would you do that?
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  I mean, this decision was based on a desire to be sane and treated like Barnabas.
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  I think that's why Luke connected the two men together. You have this massive
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  church of at least 5,000 men, and Luke chooses to take out two examples.
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  One is Barnabas, the son of encouragement, and the other one is Ananias.
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  The sale of the property was less about generosity and more about fame,
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  I would argue, for the life of Ananias.
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  And as I sat and thought about the actions of Barnabas and Ananias,
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  this came to my mind. Here you go. when Barnabas was selling his property,
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  he thought about his fellow man.
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  And when Ananias was selling his property, he was likely thinking about himself.
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  So one of the big life lessons here for all of us is that we have been called to be the body of Christ.
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  As a matter of fact, Paula, she sits near me.
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  We're in the middle of worship. She patting me on the shoulder and said,
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  you need to turn around and look at your church. And I turned around and I was like, wow.
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  I thought all these people showed up here. How blessed are we that this many
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  people in our first service would show up? And I'm grateful for that.
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  Give God a clap offering for all of you showed up. Yeah.
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  But what's happening here is Barnabas, when he sold his property,
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  he was thinking about the body of Christ.
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  And I talked about it last week about how I hurt myself and I was bleeding and
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  how my entire body worked together to actually help my leg.
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  Do you all want to hear something very, very ironic?
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  I did the same exact thing yesterday on the other leg.
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  Bled like a stuck pig. Yes, I thought, God, you are so funny.
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  You really are. And I'm not going to go through that again.
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  But Barnabas, Barnabas, when he sold his property, was thinking about the needs
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  of his fellow man, thinking about the body of Christ.
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  By Ananias' actions, he sold his property in hopes that maybe somebody would
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  look at him and say, look how spiritual he is.
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  And how do we know this? Look at verse three, it says, then Peter said,
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  Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart?
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  You lied to the Holy Spirit and you kept some of the money for yourself.
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  The property was yours to sell or not to sell as you wished.
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  And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away.
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  How could you do a thing like this? You weren't lying to us, but God.
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  So what is Peter saying? He's saying it was your property. And once you sold it, it was your money.
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  Why did you lie about it, Ananias? Why? And zooming in, we see Ananias and his
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  wife Sapphira's actions. And when we zoom out, we see something completely different.
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  You say, what do you mean by that? Well, let me explain it to you.
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  When we zoom in, before we zoom in, there's a church of over 5,000 men.
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  When we zoom in, we see the life of Ananias and his wife Sapphira. That's who we see.
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  But when we zoom out deeper, what we really see is this.
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  It's not even in your notes. It won't be on the screen, but note takers write
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  it down. What you actually see when you zoom all the way out is you see a battle
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  between two different kingdoms.
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  What you see is a battle between two different kingdoms. You say,
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  Pastor, what are you talking about?
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  In the last chapter, we saw a guy named Joseph who was spiritually speaking, no ordinary Joe.
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  He was completely committed to the kingdom of God, so much so that he was given
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  the name of his son of encouragement and that he sold a field and he gave it all away.
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  And then we turn the page to chapter 5 and we see a man named Ananias whose
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  actions prove that his allegiance isn't to the kingdom of God,
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  but to an anti-kingdom that finds its roots in sin and lies and the trappings of the world.
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  When I reached this portion of my message planning, I did something that was really strange.
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  When I got to this portion of my message planning, I found myself doing something.
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  If you've been hanging around here long enough, you always have heard me say
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  over the years that when we read scripture, one of the things we need to do
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  in scripture is when we read scripture, We do not just need to see these people
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  in Scripture as just third parties.
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  Like when we read Scripture, we
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  ought to ask God, God, would you reveal yourself to me in this Scripture?
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  Are there characters in the story who I can identify with?
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  Because it's in that that the word comes alive.
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  Like we can say, oh, Ananias, what a dumb dude.
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  He was stupid, right? And then walk away and never be changed, right?
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  But when we look at the life of Ananias and we see his life,
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  what if we said to the Lord, Lord, is there anything about Ananias' life that looks like mine?
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  Ah, because ain't none of you in this room named Ananias. And ain't none of
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  you in this room planning on naming your kid Ananias.
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  If you are, you need to come talk to me because I will not do the baby dedication of that child.
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  And this is what I did. I had no idea this was going to make it into my message, by the way.
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  What I did is I just grabbed an envelope off my desk, Foster Fuels, a propane bill.
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  Because I was going to go away from my message planning to soul searching for me.
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  And so I wrote on this piece of paper, because it wasn't going to make it into
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  my computer. Later, I wrote down on this piece of paper, why did Ananias have the lie?
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  And then I wrote, sin equals the anti-kingdom.
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  So watch, I said, when you zoom out, there is two kingdoms.
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  There's the kingdom of God and there's the anti-kingdom, which is the kingdom of Satan.
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  And so I wrote down sin equals the anti-kingdom. Now I'm still writing.
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  None of this is going to make it to you, right? Because I'm still writing on a piece of paper.
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  And then I find myself later going, that's the message.
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  And I'm like, Lord, I need to be very careful what I say about myself because
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  you might make me preach about it.
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  And so then I was thinking, okay, so sin equals the anti-kingdom.
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  And when I look at the life of Ananias, the first thing that I see is deceit.
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  He lied. And if you're here today and you're like, well, I could never identify
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  with Ananias. He's a very bad dude. I would say to you, have you ever lied?
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  And if you're like, no, I've never lied. Oh yeah, you're a liar.
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  Oh yeah, you are a liar. When I was a small kid, I lied just because I was good at it.
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  I didn't even need a reason to lie. Like I looked for reasons to lie.
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  And you're like, well, that wasn't me. Well, you have your own stuff.
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  You just ain't preaching about it today.
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  So whatever. Back off, would you?
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  So deceit is he lied.
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  That's the beginning. That's very obvious. I think I wrote it in here. You lied.
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  So that's in verse 3. we know that to be a fact because in verse 3b,
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  Peter said, you lied to the Holy Spirit.
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  So we see that, right? We see that that's going on. And so then you lied to the Holy Spirit.
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  Peter is saying, you not only lied, you lied to God himself.
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  The offering you bring isn't for me, it's for God.
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  However, Peter asked Ananias a question that is both revealing and unsettling. Let's look at it.
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  And it says right after that, or right before that, it says,
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  Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart?
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  You know, this question reveals the two kingdoms that I mentioned earlier.
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  There is a kingdom of God, and there's an anti-kingdom in complete opposition
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  to the kingdom of God. And here's what you got to know.
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  The kingdom of God is marked by purity and holiness.
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  Write that down. The kingdom of God is marked by purity and holiness.
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  And the anti-kingdom of Satan is marked by lies and sin.
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  You see, telling lies is a part of the anti-kingdom.
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  However, what other sins could be present that actually required Ananias to
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  lie about it to begin with?
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  And now we're getting back to what I'm talking about because what I was doing
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  when I took this piece of paper out was I was in some ways searching my own heart,
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  but I was also searching the heart of just any person too because we all battle with sin.
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  And so as I continue to write, I've got it in note form, and I've also got it
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  written on this piece of paper because I ended up taking from here and writing it to my message.
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  So deceit equals lies to cover up truth.
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  Like right now, if you are having to lie to cover up truth in your life,
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  your heart is turned toward the anti-kingdom.
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  And here's what you got to know about lying.
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  Lies know no end because the truth of
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  the matter is when you lie about something you
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  gotta know that a matter of time
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  you're gonna have to lie again to cover up the first lie and what the enemy
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  of our soul tries to do is he tries to trap us in one lie and as a result of
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  that one lie he tries to trap us continuing down there was a guy that once said
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  if you get on a train headed in the wrong direction,
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  get off on the very next stop.
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  Because if you don't get off on the very next stop, the return fare is going to cost more.
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  And I want you to know when the man said that, he wasn't talking about trains.
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  When you find yourself on the wrong, headed in the wrong way,
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  get off on the very next stop.
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  Because if you stay on the train, you're going to continue to head in the wrong direction.
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  And when you finally decide to get off on the next stop, I want you to know
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  No, the return fare is going to cost that much more.
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  So if you're currently living in a life of deceit and lies, you are living as
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  a part of the anti-kingdom.
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  You need to get off the next stop.
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  You need to repent of your lying and you need to walk in the light of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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  All right, let's keep going. I'm glad you really liked that one.
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  There was one person who clapped.
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  So I wrote down deceit. You know why? Because I've lied before.
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  I've lied before. The next one that I wrote down, remember I'm writing,
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  not thinking any of you are ever gonna see this. The next one I wrote down is fear.
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  And I put fear equals, is God's kingdom enough?
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  Like, I was talking to one of my close confidants here in the church.
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  It's been with me from the very beginning.
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  I was talking to him a little bit about some of the next steps that we are thinking
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  about taking and planning as a local church.
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  Big frontiers, taking steps of faith. And I was just lamenting to him about
• 23:01
  this next step and just sharing with him about some of the anxiety that I was feeling.
• 23:08
  And he just, in a very meek way, he said, Pastor, when you showed up here 20-something
• 23:17
  years ago, there was about 65 to 75 to 80 people.
• 23:22
  We had very little money.
• 23:25
  Has the Lord failed you yet? And I was like, I'm the preacher here. Shut your mouth.
• 23:30
  Let me just talk to you. But you know what he did?
• 23:33
  He put a finger on me. And there's nothing wrong with me pressing in and talking
• 23:37
  to deep confidants about things that I'm thinking about.
• 23:41
  There's nothing wrong with that. But there are some of you here right now,
• 23:44
  the reason you are in the shape that you're in is because your mind is living
• 23:49
  in the anti-kingdom of fear that's telling you that the kingdom of God is not enough.
• 23:55
  And I am here to testify today that the kingdom of God is enough in every situation.
• 24:01
  Yeah, let's everybody clap for that. The kingdom of God is yes for every situation.
• 24:09
  The next one I wrote down was greed.
• 24:11
  Greed equals I need more. That's what's going on with Ananias and Sapphira.
• 24:17
  I mean, the church is brand new, right church is brand new
• 24:20
  and there's all these amazing things that's happening in the church but
• 24:23
  i mean who i mean i mean ananias he probably
• 24:26
  went and sold the property and i don't know when he made the decision not to
• 24:29
  give it all but there's got to be a part of him where he was like calculating
• 24:32
  and he was like he sold the property he was like yeah well what if this kingdom
• 24:36
  of god thing don't turn out i mean the church is brand new well probably what
• 24:40
  we ought to do is we ought to we ought to hoard some for ourselves well because
• 24:43
  you know we you know rainy day,
• 24:45
  you know, things might not work out and persecution might come in greater forms.
• 24:49
  And so we better hold some back. It's this idea of what I call white knuckle living.
• 24:54
  It's like this idea that we live our whole lives trying to hold on and to grasp
• 24:59
  stuff because we have this desire for more and more and more.
• 25:04
  John D. Rockefeller is the greatest example of that. Somebody interviewed John D.
• 25:08
  Rockefeller in the height of his career. They said, which million did you make
• 25:12
  is your favorite million. And John D.
• 25:15
  Rockefeller said, the next million is my favorite million.
• 25:19
  Never have enough. So Ananias and Sapphira, there was a part of their heart. Why did they lie?
• 25:25
  Because somewhere in there was in the deep recesses of their soul, there was greed.
• 25:29
  Don't think for a second, I ain't dealt with that. You know how I can tell you about that?
• 25:33
  I grew up on the outer banks of North Carolina to a father who was a commercial
• 25:37
  fisherman and my mom who was a stay-at-home mother.
• 25:39
  There were weeks that my dad would go out to sea and he would work his fingers
• 25:43
  to the bone. And you know what he got?
• 25:46
  Bony fingers. Some of you old enough to know that song.
• 25:50
  I was poor. I was excited about the new bicycle I got one Christmas until my
• 25:56
  next door neighbor got a four-wheeler, right?
• 25:59
  And so in my life, in this Christian walk, I have to be careful that the enemy
• 26:04
  of my soul doesn't make me want more and more and more forsaking the kingdom of God.
• 26:10
  Greed. The next one is selfishness for those of you who remain.
• 26:14
  By the time I get to the end of this list, everybody will be gone.
• 26:16
  But remember, I'm talking about myself here.
• 26:19
  Selfishness. I'm the lead character in the story. That's what selfishness is.
• 26:24
  Oh, if me and my husband are getting in a fight, then it's obviously his fault
• 26:30
  because I'm the lead character.
• 26:33
  I'm the good guy in the story. And it's all about my world and everybody else is just living in it.
• 26:41
  Selfishness. I've confessed to you from the platform that one of the things
• 26:45
  that marriage had to reveal to me is that my wife is a whole lot more selfless than I am.
• 26:53
  And I've spent the last 20-something years of my life trying not to abuse my
• 26:58
  wife for this wonderful gift of selflessness that she has.
• 27:02
  Because the truth of the matter is, I can be selfish and not even try.
• 27:06
  I'm just automatically good at it. Can I get an amen from anybody else in the
• 27:10
  room? Like I'm automatically good at selfishness.
• 27:13
  I consider it one of my spiritual gifts. No, just joking.
• 27:16
  After selfishness is glory. I want the applause.
• 27:22
  That's what glory is. That's what Ananias wanted. Ananias was like,
• 27:27
  I see the way they're treating Barnabas.
• 27:29
  And his name was Joe. He was just an ordinary Joe.
• 27:32
  His name was Joseph. And then they changed his name to Barnabas.
• 27:36
  And man, they threw him up. I mean, they were just glorying all over him.
• 27:40
  So what I'll do is I'll go sell my field and I'll bring it back.
• 27:43
  And I'll lay it at the feet of the apostles and act like I gave it all so that
• 27:47
  they will glory in me as well.
• 27:49
  How about you today? You ever find yourself in that position?
• 27:52
  Were you just really wish that you could get the glory?
• 27:57
  Somebody sent me a message and said, Pastor, it was my birthday on Friday,
• 28:02
  for those of you who haven't bought me a gift yet.
• 28:04
  And just saying, and I was 39, for those of you who are wondering.
• 28:09
  Somebody sent me a message and said, I'm really sorry I didn't throw you a birthday
• 28:12
  party. And I just told them, thank you for not throwing me a birthday party.
• 28:16
  Because I'm just being really honest with you. I stand up here most Sundays.
• 28:21
  I went to the bank this week and had to fake it till I could make it because
• 28:25
  There was some girl back there who knew me like I was her grandfather But I
• 28:29
  hadn't seen her since she was a small kid.
• 28:31
  I still don't know who she is And if you're here today, would you come reintroduce yourself?
• 28:36
  I I just didn't know she's grown up. I didn't recognize her.
• 28:38
  I didn't know who she was You know what? Sometimes I I just I don't want any fanfare,
• 28:44
  Like when I turned 50, I left the country just to make sure.
• 28:49
  But you know what? There's this human element in all of us. Deep down inside,
• 28:53
  some greater than others.
• 28:54
  We just want to be under the lights. We want the fanfare.
• 28:58
  We want the glory. And that's what Ananias had.
• 29:01
  How about the next one? For those of you who are still remaining, a lack of faith.
• 29:05
  Can I really trust God?
• 29:08
  You know, over the years, I have taught you to look for yourself in Scripture.
• 29:13
  And I'm telling you that this exercise that I did actually hijacked my message
• 29:19
  because here's what you got to know,
• 29:21
  kingdom of God seekers, is that we can think that we are walking and we are
• 29:28
  celebrating and we are committed to the kingdom of God.
• 29:32
  But the truth of the matter is the Holy Spirit has to reign supreme in us.
• 29:38
  And if the Holy Spirit does not reign supreme in us, somebody else will.
• 29:44
  That's why Peter looked at Ananias and said, Ananias, how could you let your
• 29:50
  heart be filled with Satan?
• 29:54
  So here's what I want to talk to you about. You notice the whole sermon,
• 29:57
  I build up Barnabas, the son of encouragement.
• 30:01
  He's the man, right? He was Joseph. He was just born as an ordinary Joe.
• 30:06
  And now he's Barnabas, which means son of encouragement. And
• 30:09
  he was generous and he gave a fee he sold a
• 30:12
  field and gave it all to the apostle's feet and now it's written
• 30:15
  in the bible which is the best-selling book in the entire world ever like i
• 30:20
  built him up right and then i've been over here preaching this message about
• 30:23
  ananias man he's a no good loser he's a liar and he's selfish and he's greedy
• 30:28
  and he lacks faith and he's full of deceit do you know the difference between the two.
• 30:36
  Both of them were born as sinners. Can I get an amen? Both of them had a sin
• 30:40
  nature. Can I get an amen?
• 30:42
  Both of them are loved dearly by God. Can I get an amen?
• 30:46
  The difference between Barnabas and Ananias.
• 30:52
  Is that one allowed their heart to be filled with Satan and the other one allowed
• 30:59
  their heart to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
• 31:02
  I don't know if you've got it yet, But the book of Acts is about the Holy Spirit.
• 31:07
  And here's what you want to know. The Holy Spirit, he's just some frou-frou-y something spirit.
• 31:13
  You know, back when I was a kid, we called it the Holy Ghost.
• 31:15
  It scared me to death because the only good ghost I knew was Casper.
• 31:18
  And I didn't even really like him. Can I get an amen?
• 31:20
  Right. But many of us, we think about, listen, the Holy Spirit, you got to hear this.
• 31:24
  The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity.
• 31:28
  And he is not the third person of the Trinity because he's third best.
• 31:33
  He's not the third person in the Trinity because he gets the bronze medal.
• 31:39
  No, the Holy Spirit is the third person in the Trinity because that is the third
• 31:43
  one that is revealed in Scripture.
• 31:45
  And I want you to know today, if you try to live your life for God without the
• 31:49
  Holy Spirit, your name will be Ananias.
• 31:52
  But if you live your life filled with the Holy Spirit, your name can become
• 31:56
  Barnabas, which means the son of encouragement. Give God a clap offering.
• 32:01
  I had somebody call me this week A wayward guy,
• 32:05
  A guy that I've been praying for He called me out of the blue this week I was
• 32:10
  good to hear from him Like his name's been in my prayer journal Because it's
• 32:15
  just been wayward He called me this week.
• 32:19
  Pastor, I just want to let you know I'm walking in victory What he said I'm
• 32:24
  walking in victory, Pastor He said, I know you've been worried about me Because
• 32:29
  I've been wayward He said, but let me tell you something.
• 32:32
  God is doing a new thing in my life. And he said, guess what, Pastor?
• 32:36
  All my friends went out Friday night to get drunk at the bar. You know what I did?
• 32:40
  I just ordered food in and watched one of my favorite documentaries.
• 32:45
  He said, because I'm getting victory, Pastor.
• 32:48
  He said, but the reason I called you is because God revealed something to me
• 32:53
  this week that I never knew. And I said, do tell.
• 32:55
  He said, here's the thing, Pastor. He said, I think before now,
• 32:59
  the reason why I didn't do bad things or I did bad things was because I felt like that God,
• 33:10
  if I didn't do bad things, that God, he wouldn't love me as much.
• 33:16
  And he said, what God revealed to me this week is that even if I had went out
• 33:22
  the other night and gotten completely drunk out of my mind and act like a hoodlum,
• 33:29
  that God wouldn't love me any less.
• 33:33
  Would love me the same. But what I realized is my decision not to go out and
• 33:41
  get drunk out of my mind was me loving him back.
• 33:50
  That's what he said to me. And he said, I love it when I got a parishioner who pulls out scripture.
• 33:56
  He said, I'm not trying to bug you. I might have taken too much of your time.
• 33:59
  I'm leaping on the other line, like looking for clinics or some of to wipe my nose with.
• 34:04
  And he said, and pastor, and it's because of this revelation that he said that
• 34:08
  he gave me the scripture that I've always known, but I never really thought of it until now.
• 34:14
  He said, pastor, the scripture God gave me was Romans 12.1.
• 34:19
  Therefore, I urge you brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy,
• 34:27
  to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.
• 34:39
  This is your true and proper worship.
• 34:45
  Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing
• 34:54
  of your mind, you will be able to test and approve what God's will is,
• 35:00
  his good and pleasing and perfect will.
• 35:06
  You see, when we study chapter five, and it's fine, go study it all you want
• 35:11
  and decide, like, if you go online and you look and there are all these scholars, they were like,
• 35:17
  so did God kill Ananias immediately?
• 35:21
  And there's like, no, God didn't kill him. And there's like,
• 35:24
  someone's like said, he came and he was expecting all this praise.
• 35:29
  And when he, instead he got accusation, like he died of a heart attack.
• 35:33
  And there's all these arguments, like, why would God do that?
• 35:37
  You know, is that really the character of God and all these things.
• 35:40
  You can argue all that you want to, and you can either blame God or you defend God.
• 35:46
  The truth of the matter is, it don't matter because God's still God.
• 35:51
  He can do whatever he wants to because he is God. Can I get an amen?
• 35:56
  But the truth of the matter is, is which will you be?
• 36:01
  Will you be one who his heart is turned to the Holy Spirit, to the one Every
• 36:09
  morning I place my hand on my heart And I say Christ you are welcomed in this place,
• 36:17
  Like I was getting up at.
• 36:20
  4.59 this morning, and as I was climbing out of bed, my wife notified me that
• 36:26
  I forgot to change the clock.
• 36:28
  So it was 3.59.
• 36:31
  Wow, I need a nap. Oh, sorry.
• 36:34
  But at 3.59 this morning, as I placed my hand on my heart, I said,
• 36:40
  Lord, you are welcomed in this place.
• 36:42
  That's why from time to time, I catch myself having stinking thinking.
• 36:48
  Do you all have any of that? Do you every now and then have stinking thinking,
• 36:54
  thoughts that are not of God?
• 36:56
  That's why I try to live my life
• 36:58
  trying to take every thought captive and making it obedient to Christ.
• 37:04
  Do you know, for those of you who have a critical spirit of others,
• 37:07
  I want you to know that your critical spirit of others is what's sabotaging your own spirituality.
• 37:14
  Unholy thoughts, things that honor God, I immediately take them to God and say,
• 37:19
  God, I want to take this thought captive and make it obedient unto you.
• 37:24
  Because God, here's what I know.
• 37:25
  In and of myself, I can be a man of the anti-kingdom.
• 37:29
  I can be full of deceit, and I can be full of fear,
• 37:32
  and I can be full of greed, and I can be full of pride,
• 37:36
  and I can be full of selfishness and I can be full of my own glory and I can
• 37:41
  be full of my lack of faith and I could even live as a part of the anti-kingdom
• 37:46
  without even realizing if I was not careful.
• 37:49
  But God, I do not want to be one who has a heart like that of Ananias,
• 37:53
  but rather I want to be one who has a heart like Barnabas because in the end,
• 37:58
  I want to be defined as a son or daughter,
• 38:01
  of encouragement. Would you pray with me?
• 38:05
  I ask you today to just allow God to examine your heart this morning.
• 38:11
  Just let him examine your heart. Would you ask him, God, is my heart turned towards you?
• 38:17
  Just let him search you. Just for a minute, would you say, search me,
• 38:21
  oh God, and know my heart. Let's just pray that.
• 38:24
  Search me, oh God, and know my heart.
• 38:28
  Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there be any offensive way in me.
• 38:39
  Is there deceit in your heart? Is there fear? Is there greed?
• 38:46
  Is there selfishness? Is there glory?
• 38:49
  Is there a lack of faith right now would you invite the Holy Spirit to cleanse
• 38:56
  you to purify you to allow you through his spirit to make you a son or a daughter of encouragement,
• 39:13
  God we are so desperate today for your spirit.
• 39:17
  Music.
• 39:31
  Us.
• 39:34
  Now, God, may we invite your spirit into our hearts that we might also in turn love you.
• 39:40
  Music.
• 39:47
  Would you just put your hand on your heart this morning? If you're serious about
• 39:50
  doing business with God, just put your hand on your heart this morning and just
• 39:54
  say, God, I welcome you in this place.
• 39:58
  Reveal to me anything in my life that does not bring you honor.
• 40:04
  I know you love me, God.
• 40:09
  My actions, either positive or negative, doesn't affect the way you love us,
• 40:15
  but they do affect the way we love you.
• 40:19
  God, apart from you, we will be Ananias every single time. Apart from you, we will fail.
• 40:26
  We will be overridden with fear, a lack of faith, greed, deceit, all of the list.
• 40:33
  We will be full of it. But God, with your spirit living and abiding in us,
• 40:39
  we can become sons and daughters of encouragement.
• 40:45
  So may it be so in this church today. And may we leave this place today ever
• 40:51
  mindful of the importance of this, that we might be the husbands that you've
• 40:54
  called us to be, the wives you've called us to be,
• 40:57
  the sons and daughters you've called us to be, the co-workers you've called
• 41:00
  us to be, the grandparents you've called us to be.
• 41:03
  In all things, God, I ask that you would get the glory and that you would get
• 41:08
  the praise because you're the one who deserves it.
• 41:12
  We ask it and we pray it in your son's name and all of God's people's sin.
• 41:17
  Amen. If you're visiting with us today, please give us just a few minutes of
• 41:21
  your time at the Connect Drone. We would love to meet you.
• 41:24
  Stand to your feet and hug your neighbor, tell them they're loved and make it
• 41:27
  a great day. God bless you.
• 41:29
  Music.
• 41:41
  Thank you for listening to the Holiness Today podcast. If you enjoyed this production
• 41:45
  and wish to hear more, visit holinesstoday.org slash podcast or find us on Spotify,
• 41:50
  Apple, and Google Podcasts.
• 41:52
  Music.