So Acts chapter 4 verse 32 and my intentions to cover through chapter 5 verse 11 this morning. So let's read this together starting in Acts chapter 4 verse 32. It says, now 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, 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. But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property. And with his wife's knowledge, he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles' feet. 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? We'll pause there and pray. God, I pray that we would truly hear your voice in your word. God, I feel as if what I have to offer in an outline or in words written down on a page, clever illustrations or applications. God, I feel like it's a pretty meager offering. And so I pray that Your Word would be to our great benefit today, that Your truth would multiply as Christ who takes a little bit of bread and a little bit of fish and feeds the multitudes, God, what I have to say would be just a little bit of bread and a little bit of fish, and what you say, God, would multiply to the abundant nourishment of your people. And I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. So I hope that you would welcome the confrontation of God. That God would search your heart and expose your distorted and evil desires and graciously purify you. I hope that we would welcome that. I say that because it can be really painful when God does that kind of heart work, but it's welcome pain. It's welcome pain if you have a tumor growing in your body that a surgeon would reach in and pull it out. That hurts, right? But at the same time, the hurt of the surgery is better than the suffering of the cancer. Maybe today, the text of scripture that we have before us would serve as a scalpel. One of the questions that inevitably you heard asked this week is why the US general election broke right rather than left. And the answer, at least the one I keep hearing, and I think it's probably accurate, is the economy. We care a great deal about our money. And that is not a bad impulse. So just hear me clearly, especially as we go through this, that stewardship of all that God entrusts to you and to me is a holy pursuit, good stewardship. I just don't think that was on the minds of most Americans. The holy pursuit of good stewardship. I just don't think that's the motivation. I think what's really driving us in our country is greed and selfishness and idolatry. We are a country well stocked with wealth and property and resources and entertainment, and we love it so much that when prices go up, which they have, when markets go down, we go to war to keep our idols. You can disagree with me, that's fine, but I think this is the stream that we are swimming in. This is the world we live in. Now, the question then for us as Christians is, are you just floating along in that stream? Like, when you look outside at the general culture and say it's greedy, it's idolatrous, money and property are idols, my question to you is, like, is that true of you? Are you just living out the average American life right now, or are you trying to swim against the stream? Like, are your money and your property idols? One of the great tests of that is how inclined are you to protect them? Now, of course, the good news for us as Christians is that God does change our hearts. Jesus' death on the cross purchases the forgiveness of sins like greed, and his resurrection leads us into a newness of life, like we see here in Acts chapter four. We just read it, and we've seen it before in chapter two. We'll see it again in the book of Acts. that a significant feature of the new life that King Jesus gives us is generosity. People in the church are generous. The other side of that, though, is that greed has to die. So we consider these two extremes, maybe, and my prayer is that God would do necessary surgery on our hearts. as we look at this passage. My approach is this, that I'm going to walk through this verse by verse from 432 through 511, and then pull back and answer a handful of questions that I think are legitimate in light of this passage. So Acts 432, 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, but they had everything in common. That makes me excited. I don't know about you. I look at that and think, man, there's gotta be something there that's desirable. A church with deep unity and sacrificial generosity. So just on the front end of this, and don't forget this, because I have a lot of other things to say today. I am so happy with where God has Crossroads Bible Church right now. I don't think I'm seeing it wrong, but I sense a very deep unity among our people. maybe the deepest I've experienced in the 10 years I've been here, and I also am marveling at the generosity of our people. So I don't come into this text of scripture with a bone to pick with Crossroads Bible Church. God may have one. We'll let him do the work on our hearts, but I just stand here and go, man, I think we're getting closer to Acts chapter four than we are to Acts chapter five. But I also know that that ideal is not always the way it is. And God knows that too. I mean, I think that Acts chapter four is purposefully idealistic. It's not falsely idealistic, but it's showing us sort of the pinnacle of what God can do. And of course, chapter five reminds us it's not all roses. But what we're seeing here in Acts chapter four is that the risen and reigning King Jesus is gathering a people to himself, saving them, forgiving their sins, and that his grace at work among them is evident in just the practical unity and care of his people. So Acts 4.33, with great power then the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all. You might remember from last week, this is an answer to their prayer. If you just peek back at verse 29, Remember the prayer that Peter and the others said? He said, So we just turn really to the next verses and God's doing it. God's power, it says great power in verse 33, is extending as the apostles are witnessing and testifying to Jesus. Now, God's power is certainly evident in miracles. We know that. The apostles were doing many signs and wonders. But more so, God's power is evident as people believe the testimony about Jesus. As people are believing that Jesus is the Messiah, and that Jesus is raised from the dead, and that Jesus gives new and eternal life in the kingdom of God, and people are believing it, we're seeing the great power of God to change people's lives. And, verse 33 says that grace, great grace, is spreading. So get that great power through preaching, great grace is spreading in the people. Now grace is one of those words that has a lot of different nuances to it. You could think of it as both favor and a gift. So God's grace is evident as the disciples, the apostles are preaching, people are receiving the message favorably. That's grace. And God's grace is evident as the believers are compelled towards generosity. So evidence of God's power is faith, evidence of God's grace is faith, and evidence of God's power and grace is also generosity. So verse 34, 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. Does that verse just strike you as radical? I think that's a word a lot of people would use with that. And it does, it raises some questions. We'll get to some of those. But again, it's idealistic on purpose. What you're seeing among the first Christians is the natural outcome of the kingdom of God that the apostles were preaching. People are freed from greed and given to giving. Why? Well, because Jesus has inaugurated a new kingdom through His death and resurrection. Because King Jesus is ruling from heaven. Because Jesus has established a kingdom by pouring out his spirit, and that spirit is empowering people to proclaim the good news and bringing about the change of life. And so people who are believing in this gospel, this good news that's being preached, now become a visible and tangible expression of God's grace. Like through generosity. It's like as God has been abundantly gracious to us in the greatest needs of our soul, so we will joyfully meet the needs of the people around us. Here's an example. Verse 36. Thus Joseph, who was 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. Just mark this guy Barnabas. He's gonna show up a number of times in the book of Acts, and he's one of the great characters in the book of Acts. So as we get to know him more, we'll say more about him. But he gets a nickname from the apostles for being so encouraging. He's clearly generous and I think all pieces put together shows that he is an incredibly humble person. Barnabas is the supreme example, right? And this is where then the tone of the background music changes to a minor key because there's a really bad example here too. It's Ananias. Like this idealistic church on earth is not yet the church in heaven. Far from it. Acts chapter 5 verse 1, but in contrast to Joseph, a man named Ananias with his wife Sapphira sold a piece of property and with his wife's knowledge he kept it back, he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostle's feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? The implication is that Ananias is boasting that he gave the whole amount. We're supposed to kind of put the pieces together. When in reality, he kept back some for himself. He said, oh Peter, like this is how much we sold this property for. We're giving it all to the church. The lie is that, no, you're not giving it all. You're keeping some for yourself. Like, there's a really good contrast here. From verse 32, where no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, to now, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back for yourself? Selfishness. Part of the proceeds of the land. You're supposed to pick up a parallel here between Ananias and Judas. Remember Judas? Luke chapter 22 says that Satan filled his heart or entered his heart. Just as here, Ananias, Satan has filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit. Judas sells Jesus out for greed. Ananias, greed lies to the church. It's a bit ironic that Judas uses his proceeds to buy a field and Ananias sells a field. Either way, it's greed. These people do not belong in the kingdom of God. That's the big message. That the generosity we see in chapter four, the generosity of the people of God is now polluted by the greed of one of its members. And it didn't have to be like that. Look at verse four. Peter continues. While it remained unsold, he says to Ananias, did it not 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. Ananias didn't have to do anything. Peter's very clear. His possessions were his to steward. So this choice to lie was not socially compelled. It was internally contrived. Ananias clearly wants praise. You know, he wants a nickname from the apostles, like Joseph got. He wants the respect of the church. He wants glory. You know, in our modern day, we might say he wants his name on a plaque on the side of the building. He wants a statue out front. He wants everybody to know how great and holy and generous he was, except he lied. Like his greed and his lie go hand in hand, and sure he lied to the apostles, he lied to the church, but Peter points to the real heart of the issue. He lied to God, and so Ananias answers to God. Verse 5, when Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard it. The young man rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him. So there's a bit of a reality check here, right? Back to chapter four, it's great power, great grace, and now here, great fear. Now, I guess you might look at this story and say, okay, why did Ananias die? You know, Peter has some sort of ability, supernatural or otherwise, to see through the lie, and maybe Ananias is just so wrecked with guilt that he has a heart attack and dies. Maybe. It seems a whole lot more likely to me that God struck him down. This is divine judgment. Just read your Bibles. This is what God does. Especially when God is starting a new work in the story of redemption. Cain kills Abel. Everybody dies of the flood. Like when Moses leads the people out of Egypt in the Exodus, and the people rebel, many die because of the golden calf. I think it's like 5,000 die, the scene of the golden calf. And then when they refuse to go in the promised land, a whole generation dies by plague and war. And then even when they get into the promised land, it's Achan who steals and is greedy, just kind of like Ananias, who then him and his family die and are executed. You should just read your Bibles and realize that when God is trying to establish his people, just as he is here in Acts chapter 4, he will often define the terms of his covenant, good and bad, with life and death. This is divine judgment. This is God purifying his church by removing a member through death. And Acts chapter 5 verse 7, after an interval of about three hours, his wife came in not knowing what had happened. Now here's how I picture this. People are like, why wouldn't they just go tell her? She seems ignorant. Except I think it makes a whole lot of sense that maybe Ananias dies, someone goes and finds his wife and says, you need to go talk to the apostles right now. And maybe just doesn't give her all the details until she's in the right place at the right time. That seems like basic human nature and kindness to me. So she doesn't know what's happened when she goes in to talk to the apostles. Verse eight, Peter said to her, tell me whether you sold the land for so much. She said, yes, for so much. But 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. Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in and found her dead, they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. So there's mercy here and kindness. Peter gives her an opportunity to tell her side of the story. Maybe like under the great conviction of her sin, She would confess, and then we would see Peter and the apostles showing her the generosity and forgiveness that Jesus had taught them to. That's a likely outcome, had she been true and told the truth. But instead, she shows herself to be fully complicit in her husband's lie. It's not just Ananias' guilt imposed on her unwillingly. She knows what's going on, and she wants the plaque on the wall, too. And so God's judgment is just. She dies. Acts chapter 5 verse 11, then, great fear, there it is again, came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things. Right, Acts chapter 4, it's great power, great grace. We have a longing to be like those people. We want God's power at work among us. We want God's grace at work among us. And so we would pray, would God make us like that church in Acts chapter 4? And that comes with the dire warning of Acts chapter 5. The King Jesus is gathering a generous people to himself. Greed in the church has to go. It has to die. And I say that because here, that's as literal as it gets. Literally the greed in the church had to die. And that confronts the same idol in us. Greed will still pollute the church. And just to you as individuals, It is a cancer of the soul. It rots you from the inside. We would praise God that His discipline for greed today is much gentler. We don't expect that God puts people to death because they lie to the church. It gets gentler, but that in no way lessens the severity of our greed. This whole passage calls us to repent. of greed and pursue generosity. Okay, so I hope you've got the narrative. It's not an overly complex story, it's just sort of shocking. So now I've got a handful of questions that hopefully help us navigate, apply, and interpret this passage. Here's the first question. Why is this story here? We've got like, everything's going great in the church. Why does God, through the author Luke, inspire this story to be included right here? And I think to even our modern years and just our modern years, but we read a passage of scripture like this and say, this is the word of the Lord. How can we give thanks to God for it? Why is this here? I'll tell you why. Because God will purify his church. God's kingdom is a holy kingdom. Sin and lies and greed and selfishness have no place among the people of God. And so in the infancy of the church, at the very beginning, God makes this message really clear in a very dramatic way. Discipline through death. Praise God that's not the norm. We see this a lot in the book of Acts, right? We see things that belong, I'll use the language up to the foundation of the church, but don't necessarily set the pattern for how the rest of the church is built. We're just gonna get it in the book of Acts. There's a whole heap of problems in the New Testament church. We'll see it in Acts, we see it in the letters. And God doesn't normally deal with the sin of his people by putting people to death on the spot. Usually God works through loving correction and abundant grace and patience. But that does not give us a license 2,000 years later to say, well, because God won't strike me dead, I can go ahead and lie. Or because God won't strike me dead, I can be greedy. No way. God's great grace towards us in no way should minimize our great fear of the destructive power of sin. And so at the very beginning of the church, God does something unusual to make the lesson stick. I know, Acts chapter 5 sounds very harsh in our ears, and rightly so. God does not take our sin lightly. What really should surprise us is not Acts, Ananias, and Sapphira. What really should surprise us is the vast grace that God shows us each and every day. When God would be right to mete out the full extent of His justice. He has grace, upon grace, upon grace, upon grace for us. Because King Jesus has saved us and is changing us. So we should never see God's grace as a license to go sin. Rather, God's grace is a wonderful gift that motivates us to be holy people. The story of Ananias' fire is meant to instill fear in us. So check your own heart. Is there greed in your heart? And if there is, read the story and realize that is merit for your death. It's a grace that God doesn't. So that's where you're at. It should compel you to run to Jesus, to know his forgiveness anew and be changed by his grace and labor for the purity of his people. This story is here because God is purifying his church. Okay, next question. And I'm thinking more like back to Acts chapter 4 with Barnabas. Should you sell your possessions and give the proceeds to the church? Like is what we see in Acts chapter four a pattern we ought to follow? And remember it was in Acts chapter two as well. Here's my answer. Yes. Is what we see in Acts chapter four a pattern we ought to follow? Yes. Now here's my qualification. At the right time and with the right heart. So I have a handful of points to make here on this answer. Well first point is that it's okay to have possessions and property and wealth. Those are not good or bad things in and of themselves. So it's not more righteous to be poor, and it's not more wicked to be rich, or the other way around. Just get those categories out of your mind. That's not how this works. Peter is clear to tell Ananias that he had every right to do what he wanted with his property. It's yours. When you had it, you could have done what you wanted with it. After you sold it, you could have done what you wanted with the money. So we have no right as Christians to impose on other people, maybe especially those who are wealthy, that they need to use their wealth for more good. We don't have that right. Where right and wrong are proven is on why you do what you do with your stuff. Barnabas gave first because there was a need and to be an encouragement to others. That's the right time with the right heart. Ananias gave for selfish gain and praise. It's a wrong time, wrong heart. So that's the first point. It's okay to have wealth. You have the freedom to do what you want with your property. Second point, though, is go back to Acts chapter 432. The full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul. So the progression is this. It's their faith in Christ that binds them together. And so the generosity that they show is the outworking of worship to God. And maybe to go to the other direction, greed is anti-worship. Notice that Peter makes it clear with both Ananias and Sapphira that the Holy Spirit is the offended party. And so the right heart behind any act of generosity is the heart of worship. That we would use our things for God's glory and praise. Whether you sell them or share them or invest them or save them, worship should always be the goal. So we try to make a point to say that everything we do together today in the Lord's day in the name of Jesus is worship. I know worship and music sort of become synonymous. We've got to push further than that. Worship is more than music. Greeting is worship. Praying is worship. Preaching is worship. Listening is worship. Fellowship is worship. And whatever you may or may not choose to put into the offering box is worship. Or at least it should be. But if generosity is a burden to you, that exposes your greed. If you grumble about helping other people, especially those of the household of God, that exposes your greed. If your way of thinking is, you know, it's my money, I earned it, I can do with it whatever I want, I would say that the letter I has way too big of a weight in your equation. That's greed. And if you're even getting nervous at the suggestion that God may require you to sell what you have and give it away, that's the telltale symptom of greed. Just remember the story of the rich young ruler. The heart here is what is most important. That's also where the Holy Spirit changes us most first. So if you spot greed in your heart, take heart. I don't think God will strike you dead today. He might, give him the freedom to do what God wants. But rather, by God's grace, he pushes us to Jesus who died for our greed. Who sent the Spirit to kill greed in us? Who sent the Spirit to teach us new life? Which includes generosity. So if what you see is greed in your heart, pray that God would give you the right heart and then move forward with the right action. So yes, if worship to God compels you to sell your things, do it. It's as simple as that. It's the right heart. The other factor is the right time. There's a really wise and holy balance to this. There is no universal command to Christians to sell all of your possessions and give them away. I've met people that have done that and read the passages of scripture like that, and there's usually a big lack of wisdom. The other factor that you need to consider is not just the right heart, but the right time. You'll need to discern if the circumstances call for it. So in Acts chapter four and Acts chapter two, think about the situation. The number of Christians is growing rapidly from 120 to thousands in just a matter of days, which probably caused all sorts of social and family and political upheaval, including economic upheaval. And so the needs are big. You go from no widows needing food to hundreds of widows needing food, and you've got an economic problem on your hands. And so the generosity matches it. And at the same time, sometimes the needs are not as big. Later on in the book of Acts, we'll read about a famine that strikes Jerusalem. And Paul, the apostle, goes to the churches in griefs to collect relief funds. You can actually read about this in 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians. But in 1 Corinthians 16, Paul is calling on them to give generously to the church in Jerusalem. And he doesn't say, you guys need to go sell your property and send the money. He says, set aside a little every week. As if the difference is the situation now, the right time, is not this extreme act of selling your property, but rather giving out of your weekly income. Both are appropriate for the situation. So I would say that yes, God is calling you to be generous at the right time and with the right heart. Now there's a whole nother aspect of this to consider. Sometimes you will sense God calling you to be generous or sacrificial for some purpose that you need to carefully discern and act upon. Like, as if, you know, Joseph, we can probably rationalize why he would have sold that property. Sometimes there are situations where you sense God calling you to do something that doesn't really make sense to our rational minds. I think an example of this is in 2 Corinthians chapter 8. It's the same issue, the famine relief in Jerusalem. And Paul tells about the Macedonians. They wanted to help with the famine relief. Listen to how Paul describes their sacrifice. This is 2 Corinthians 8, one through four. We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia. For in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints. Just go back and read that again sometime and think about the situation. Hey, we got famine relief, the church is in Macedonia, they're poor, Paul knows they're poor, and yet they are sending too much money Paul says, they gave according to their means, no, beyond their means, begging us. So as if the rationalization is, okay, like you guys can't really afford to send this sort of relief. And they're saying, we don't care. This is what God is calling us to do. So it may be that God calls you to do something that doesn't make sense to you or to your financial advisor, even to your peers, to be generous in an unusual way. Will you do it? I hope that you're willing to. I don't think that we should impose that God always does this. But if the first thing that kind of comes up in your heart is excuses, that's a warning that greed governs your stuff more than grace. Maybe God calls you to be sacrificial because he's rooting out greed in your heart. Isn't that grace? So should you sell your possessions and give the proceeds to the church? And I say, yes, in part because I don't want you to think there's an easy way out of this. But rather you should see this as a big open door to generosity, inviting you in and giving you the freedom and grace and joy of generosity. Yes, in the right time and with the right heart. It's not a universal command. But at the same time, it is a pattern that we ought to pursue. All right, third question. This kind of relates to the next one and the next couple of questions I'm gonna do very, very briefly. Should Christians pursue communal living? You see this in Acts chapter four, verse 32. No one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. Should we do the same thing? Again, I say, yes. But we have freedom in application. There's my qualification, freedom and application. It's the attitude that we really are after. So you have been bought by the blood of God the Son, Christians. You've been purchased by God to live in his kingdom with his provisions. Everything from the bills in your wallet to your soul belong to Jesus Christ. You are a steward, which if you think about it means that greed is nothing more than a lie. If you want to hold tightly to your things because they're your things, you're lying to yourself. They're not your things. They belong to God, you belong to God, and so you should seek wisdom from God how to use the things that he has given you for his glory and the good of his people. Jesus' kingdom also is like a family. This is how it's described in the Bible, which calls you To have a responsibility to consider how what you have can be used for the good of the church. Now, here's where the differences happen. The attitude is what we need. Everything I have belongs to God. These are my family, and so therefore, what God gives me, I will use for His glory and their good. Here's where the balance comes in. The specifics are going to vary. based on the needs, based on the circumstance, and even sometimes based on your theology. So I have an appreciation for Christian groups that theologically live in community. I don't think that that's something that needs to be imposed on all Christians. Not a rule, but a conviction. Now, let me just make a couple other qualifications here. Don't misunderstand me. This is not a political system. Anybody that's gonna jump from Acts chapter four to Marxism is doing really bad Bible interpretation, okay? This is a principle for the church and not for the state. But as the church, we ought to pray over our possessions and our accounts and our properties and commit them to the Lord. Like whether God calls you to save or to give or to sell or to invest or to share, Our inclination should be, God, what do you want me to do? And then, encourage you to share in ordinary ways. The sort of community that we see in Acts chapter four isn't just achieved by all of us selling our property and buying a big chunk of land and building some big buildings on it and being labeled a weirdo, right? That's just not what we need to do, necessarily. But Acts chapter four is pushing us to be hospitable I mean, you can open your home and invite someone to sit at your dinner table and share a meal. You could open your shop to those who have a need to do some work. You could open your backyard for children to play in. You could open your calendar and give time to others in the church. All of those are really simple acts of generosity that are a blessing to others. And if God calls you to do something more radical, then do it. You know, the biggest hurdle that we face at Crossroads Bible Church, and this is, I think, true of all Americans, of many Americans, the biggest hurdle that we face at forming a deep community is that we're scattered. We're scattered. We live all over the Tri-Cities. We're a small church, and every church I know is like this, okay? I think our being scattered makes us ineffective at both care and mission. Now, I'm not sure how to remedy that. But I know it means we have to be sacrificial. We have to be creative. So just to encourage you, in our scattered nature, to put some thought and sweat and even dollars into growing as a community that has everything in common. We could grow in that. All right, fourth question. Why is it in this passage that they lay the funds at the apostles' feet? This is a repetition. If you go back and read through this again, you'll see it three, four, five times. Why is it that when they sell their possessions and they bring them to the church, they give them to the apostles who then distribute them to the people? It's because the people of God trust God's appointed leaders to be faithful to the task. The principle is this, Christian stewardship or generosity should be stewarded by the church. This could include seeking advice from the elders and others in the church about how you can and should be generous. I think it also means generally that when we are generous with our funds, that should be directed to the local church and trust that it gets distributed faithfully. We're gonna get a lot more into that in Acts chapter six. Just so you know, the way we try to apply this at Crossroads is we appoint a stewardship team that's responsible for both receiving the offering and for overseeing the budget. So our goal then as a church is not good business practices. as much as it is that we would use the resource that God's people have given to God's mission to be used for ministry and for care that God calls us to do. So we should pray for great power of salvation. We should walk in great grace. All right, last question. How are you gonna respond to all of this? How are you gonna respond to God's word? I've thrown a lot of principles and ideas and suggestions out there, but does this vision of unity and generosity in Acts chapter four stir in you a longing to do the same and to experience the same, then start being generous. That could be as simple as reworking your budget or opening your home or sponsoring a child through Global Fingerprints. We do that through our denomination. It could also be more radical. Maybe you have a piece of property that you want to sell, and you sense God telling you to sell it and use the proceeds for something to accomplish the mission of the church. Do it. It's okay. It's good. I've known, just thinking through some of my experiences and people that I've known, and this is a pretty small circle, but I've known people who have given property for churches to be built on. I've known people who have given vehicles to missionaries and pastors. I know people who have started foundations with investments that fund missions and Christian education and local church ministry. A lot of you guys know I've been going to school, and I just got a scholarship from a church somewhere in Arizona, where somebody in the church said, I got a whole bunch of money, I'm gonna put it in an investment, and then as that investment builds, I'm gonna use that to fund the Christian education of pastors. They don't know me. I'm just a guy who filled out an application, right? But that's the kind of thing that Christians can do to advance the mission of the gospel. It's cool. You should pray over what God has given you. I don't know if he's given you enough to make a foundation or if he's given you a dining room table. Whatever God has given you, use it. Pray over how God might call you to do that. Now, I feel like I have to say this because, to me, this is an elephant in the room. Maybe it's not. I usually way overthink these things. But here we are in two weeks taking an offering for our church building, and I'm preaching on greed and generosity. And my excuse is, I didn't time that out. We do this every November. We take an offering, and I just started Acts when I started Acts and landed here when I landed here. Okay, I'm not fishing for some of you to sell your property and donate it to the church building fund. You have the freedom to do with your things whatever you want to do. But if something like that is what God's calling you to do, just know it's right and good and biblical. When you do it the right reasons and with the right heart, what I'm far more concerned about is your heart. Maybe, maybe there's greed in your heart. Maybe even as I'm going and giving all these examples and principles and applications, you're basically building a good argument against me. Maybe you realize that your heart needs to change. Maybe you then read about Ananias and Sapphira and you're filled with great fear. Then go to Jesus in prayer and confession. He forgives your sin. He applies his grace. He forgives greed. He changes your heart. He has great power to do it, but it's gonna come with a cost. I think not just the repentance from greed, but also the practice of generosity come with a great cost. You know, the question that nobody's really asking about the economy is how we could be more generous. If we are going to be consistent Christian people, we are going to have to live different than the world around us. We are floating in a stream of greed and idolatry. Christians should be the people swimming against the stream. May God make us that way, a different people, a surprising people, a generous people. Why? Because we've believed in Jesus, as Acts 4.32 says, and that gives us one heart and one soul. We delight to live, not for the kingdoms of this world or the riches of this world, but for the riches of God's grace in the kingdom of God. Let's pray. God help us. I know for me it's hard to discern what are wise financial practices and what is simply following the greed of the world around me. I don't always understand it. God, and it's hard for me to stand before your people and tell them to be generous knowing that I receive a lot of that generosity right back to me. And so God, I pray that your word would be what truly speaks to and guides us, and that what you call us to do, we would do with joy. And God, I pray that in the small ways in which we are generous, you would build a deeper community of unity and love and care for one another and mission. God, I pray for the funds that you do give our church, and it surprises me what you've given our church. It seems abundant and seems like a big blessing. I pray that we would use it, that we would use it wisely for the needs of the people that you've entrusted to us and for the ministry of the gospel in our community. God, if there is greed in our church as a whole, Help us to see it and repent and flee from it. And if there's greed in our hearts as individuals, help us to see it and repent from it and flee from it to Christ, who is our Savior who forgives, who loves, who changes us, and who gives us the riches of his kingdom that will never fade. God, set our hope on heaven where moth and rust cannot destroy. In Jesus' name, amen.