All right, good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good to see everyone. Welcome back to Sunday school. It's been a bit of a break. Yeah, don't all clap at once. It's been a bit of a break, been about a month since we had Sunday school last. Wasn't it great to have Barry Wilmore speaking for us last week? What a great testimony of A man of God who was placed in a very trying situation. And it was great to see some visitors. Did you see some faces last Sunday that you didn't recognize? Yeah. It's good to see you here. Most of you know who I am. But if you don't, my name is Ryan, and I occasionally leave Sunday school. So it's my privilege to do that this morning. Today we are in Acts chapter 4, starting in verse 32. So if you all want to take your Bibles and turn there, we're going to start by just reading through the text in full. And then I'll pray, and then we'll dig into it and unpack this next. This is Acts 4, 32, and I'll go through 5, verse 11. And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul. And not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them. And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all. For there was not a needy person among them. For all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales, and lay them at the apostles' feet. And they would be distributed to each as any had need. Now Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian birth, who was also called Barnabas by the apostles, which translated means son of encouragement, and who owned a tract of land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostle's feet. But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and kept back some of the price for himself, with his wife's full knowledge. And bringing a portion of it, he laid it at the apostle's feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God. And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came over all who heard of it. The young men got up and covered him up, and after carrying him out, they buried him. Now, there elapsed an interval of about three hours. And his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter responded to her, tell me whether you sold the land for such and such a price. And she said, yes, that was the price. Then Peter said to her, why is it that you have agreed together to put the spirit of the Lord to the test? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out as well. And immediately she fell at his feet and breathed her last. And the young man came in and found her dead. And they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. And great fear came over the whole church and over all who heard of these things. Would you bow with me for a word of prayer? Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for your inerrant, infallible word, that it is sharper than any two-edged sword, and that it pierces down to the very marrow of our being and judges the thoughts and intentions of our heart. Lord, I pray that your word would go to work on us this morning, As we examine it may you open our eyes to this text and give us receptive hearts and be with me As I teach it lord Just pray bless this time now and may it count for eternity the supreme jesus name amen Okay, so i'm going to treat this a little more like a class. Um, so please feel free to shout out answers. Um, that are relevant, not just whatever you feel like shouting out. But let's get back into the Book of Acts, because it has been a month. And I know after the semester comes back in, the undergrads that I teach completely forget things. Even after a two-week spring break, they'll forget everything I taught them a month before. So let's just refresh in less than five minutes and get back into the Book of Acts. Does anyone remember who the author of the Book of Acts is? Jesus, yes, correct answer. That's the Sunday School answer. That'll be the last Sunday School answer I'll tolerate. Sue said? Luke. Yeah, Luke, that's right. Luke is the author of the Book of Acts. Right, good. Anyone know the date of the Book of Acts when it was written? Jesus dies, buried, and ascends in around A.D. 33. Anyone remember? I want to house you to guess for the date for the Book of Acts. Sometime before 1965. That's right. That's the second Sunday School answer I want to talk about. 1863. Thereabouts. OK. So we're about 30 years after the death, burial, resurrection, ascension of Christ. Good. Genre of the book of Acts. What kind of a book is Acts, based on what we've studied thus far? Matt, what do you think? What kind of a book is Acts? I would think historical. Historical, Eric. That's correct. Yeah. Acts is a work of history. And that's important to remember when interpreting different books in the Bible, right? Some books like Epistles are, they're in a historical context, but they are doctrinal. They're written specifically to individual churches to admonish them about whatever the issue may be. Acts is a book of history, so it's just telling you what happened. That doesn't mean there can't be different text types within a book, but that's the overall genre of the book of Acts, okay? Good. What's the theme of the Book of Acts? Does anyone want to guess what a, or make an informed guess? What's the theme of the Book of Acts? What's the main point of it? One? The Church. What was that, too? History of the Church. History of the Church? Yeah. Yeah, exactly. That's more genre. It is the history of the Church. But the theme, the way the narrative is laid out, certain historical events are included to emphasize something. The spread of the gospel. The spread of the gospel, yeah, that's certainly a part of it. Specifically, not just the spread, because Diane's thinking of Paul's missionary journeys, right, but also the... It's the establishment of the early church. The establishment of the early church. Matt's probably thinking of a specific event somewhere early on in the book, right? Like Acts chapter 2? Well, yeah, but even in the later chapters, it's Paul's missionary journey. So it's about not only steps in the church in Jerusalem, but going into Yeah, all the missionary journeys right so there's element to the history of the church the establishment of the church We could say though that the overall theme of the book of Acts is the triumph of the church through Christ Okay, that's that's the The triumph of the church through Christ. It's important to remember that. What did Christ promise he would do shortly before he ascended? He said he would do something. Anyone? Said he would send a, yes, a helper, a comforter. And that's exactly what happens in the early chapters of Acts. So this is just the general overview, just to keep in our minds. Now, we've already touched on this in your answers, but what events have happened, Drew from Table, what events have happened thus far in the book of Acts, before chapter 4? Anyone? Pentecost. Pentecost is happening, yes. So that signifies what? Why is that significant? Coming of the Holy Spirit. Coming of the Holy Spirit, yeah. Something new is happening, right? Tongues, like, things that look like tongues of fire settle on the apostles, and then miraculous events start to happen. People start proclaiming gospel truth, and it is heard in multiple different intelligible languages, the gift of tongues. Why is that significant? Why? Because there are different languages, right? The primary vehicle of God accomplishing his will in the new covenant is through every tribe, tongue, and nation. It's undoing battle. What? It's undoing the Tower of Babel. Yes, thank you, Joe. Yes, undoing the Tower of Babel. Yeah, correct. So Peter's preached at least once, if not twice? Yep, latter chapter of, part of chapter 2, you have Peter's sermon, right? And does his sermon convict? Does his sermon cause repentance? Yeah, you better believe it does. It says that a couple thousand people repented and accepted Christ. So we already see that growth, right? So there's a theme of growth and spread. There have been some monumental events that have happened. You also have to, I think it's important to understand in Acts that there's this kind of a transition here, right? There's elements of continuity and discontinuity, meaning that there are some things that are different and have changed, right? Pentecost being one of them, right? It's undoing Babel. But then there are elements that sort of seem the same, right? And we're going to see an example here We just read, we see God striking someone dead. Well, that's something that we would typically associate with The Old Testament, right? We can think of several examples where God does that. So there's a tension of continuity and discontinuity at this pivotal juncture in biblical and church history. Okay? So that just sets the context for where we are in the Book of Acts thus far. Okay, let's see if I missed anything. Oh! Another important theme that is important to touch on is immediately the church is established, right? And then what happens right after that? Pretty much for the rest of the book. It gets persecuted, attacked, right? And there are two kinds of attacks. There are attacks from within, and then there are attacks from without. Okay, so can someone think of what's an example of an attack from within the church? What was that? The Pharisees. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Right. The Judaizers. What? Oh, Pharisees. Pharisees. Sorry, I heard Pharisees. Sorry, I'm deaf. Pharisees. That's correct. Yeah. False teaching. Yeah. Yeah. Very good. I heard another one. Ananias and Sapphira. Ananias and Sapphira, yeah. Joel, you stole my thunder. Yes, no, exactly right. And we'll see exactly why that's an attack on the Church this morning. What's an example of attack from without? Anyone? Paul. Paul? Before he was Saul, you should say. Yeah, Saul, right, yeah. But Saul was a Pharisee, right? Or a Judaizer, right? I'm thinking also of Rome, the pagan Romans. You meet a character later, a historical figure later in the Book of Acts, Demetrius. He's a silversmith. And he made his bucks making pagan idols. Well, guess what happens? The church rules the town and starts preaching the gospel. And guess what? They say, put away your pagan idols. And guess what? He didn't really like that too much, because that was his source of income. So you can read a lot of the narratives in Acts through this framework of the church gets established and then they're immediately attacked both from without and from within. So let's turn to our text. I'm sure this is a well-known Sunday School story, specifically the Ananias and Sapphira portion. I pronounce it Sapphira. Does anyone pronounce it Sapphira? No one? OK. I read the Aragon books growing up, and so that's the name of the dragon in those fantasy books. So there's a huge debate over how you pronounce the name of that. I was the fire, so please don't judge me. And also, Canadian accents go with the long vowel sounds sometimes. So I grew up with drama, not drama class. But I think this text is kind of misunderstood. Or we might read it, and we sort of read it like we do after we read the account of like Uzzah in the Old Testament, the guy who reaches out to grab the Ark of the Covenant when it slips and God strikes him dead. And we think, God, why'd you do that? Or we look at this text this morning and say, why did God strike Ananias and Sapphira dead for this? Did the punishment really fit the crime? It's a good question to ask. I think we'll unpack some of the reasons here. But there's also a lot of things that can be misunderstood in this text. So here are, if I was a bad teacher and I misunderstood this text, I might come up with a title like, the early church was communist. Yes, because in chapter four, it says they had nothing in common, right? That's not the point of the text. In fact, we're going to talk about that in our small groups in just a minute, about the type of generosity that characterized the early church. Maybe we could go with tithe, or else. Now actually, I don't think this text is about tithing at all. I think it's actually, there's a deeper meaning here that is the heart of worship, how we worship in the new covenant. And finally, don't trust your spouse's financial advice. Bad title number three. This one's just purely a joke. If you have financial questions, go ask Joe Fulce. He'll take all of your financial advice. No, what I put to you is that the theme of this text is that God cares how we worship. I think that's the general theme of the text here. God cares how we worship. And I specifically think God looks past the outward actions at the heart attitude. And I think to drive point that theme, that God cares how we worship, Luke gives us a narrative that contrasts two types of giving. So I've titled this class, A Tale of Two Givers. And they're not who you think. The two givers are not Ananias and Sapphira. So we'll get into these two givers. So let's look back at 4, chapter 4. So take your Bibles and look at Acts, chapter 4. And I think these two chunks of scripture are connected. And I'll show you here where I think the connection is. So look at verse 32, right where we started. It says, and the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them, and with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all. Now, turn back to Acts chapter 2, right now. Turn back to Acts chapter 2, and look at verse 43. Zach, do you want to read that? Acts 2, 43 through 47. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and signs were being performed through the apostles. Now all the believers were together and held all things in common. They sold their possessions and property, and distributed the proceeds to all as any had need. Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts. praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. Every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved. Thank you, Zach. OK, here's small group assignment number one. Based on these two texts, Acts 2, 43 through 47, and the first few verses of Acts 4, 32 through 37, I want you at your tables to crowdsource amongst yourselves, discuss amongst yourselves what features characterize the giving of the early church. I'm looking for all kinds of categories. Take about five minutes right now and just discuss that. We'll put them on the board. Go. Thank you so much. I've been involved in some of the different projects that I've done in the past 30 years. I've been involved in a number of projects. I've been involved in a number of projects. I've been involved in a number of projects. I've been involved in a number of projects. I've been involved in a number of projects. I've been involved in a number of projects. Breaking the bread. Breaking the bread. Breaking the bread. 4, starting in 32, and going all the way to the bottom of the chapter. 4, 32 to 37. I'm going to show you what's going on behind the scenes. I think we have to set up a meeting in the back. They gave us a meeting in the back hall. We're going to sit in the front here. We're going to sit in the front. We're going to sit in the front. We're going to sit in the front. We're going to sit in the front. Brian, what do you think? Would it be poignant for me to understand how hard it is to be gracious and kind to a person who may be at odds with you? Okay, that's fine. That's fine. That's fine. That's fine. That's fine. That's fine. That's fine. That's fine. That's fine. That's fine. That's fine. I don't know. I don't know. I'm going to go ahead and get started. I'm going to go ahead and get started. OK, I'm hearing great discussions. I hate to break it up, but let's put some of these on the board. Let's go with the massive table in the back, the Fulzham, Jewell, Sanders table. What's one thing from your guys' table that you came up with? They were sacrificial. Sacrificial, good. Yeah. So what do you mean by that, Bob? Faith would sell things they owned to give money to other people. Right. Share meals. Many people were from out of the area, so they opened up their houses. Yes. So there were tangible needs that the early church gave of their physical possessions to then support one another. So sacrificial, you could say it was tangible, were real world things that people needed. Money, food, yeah. Good. Diane and Clint's table, what did you guys come up with? One thing. Generous. Yeah, it was characterized by a spirit of generosity. In fact, that was the First point it had was the selfless generosity of the early church. That's the first part of the text. Yeah. So it was sacrificial. It was tangible. They gave money. They gave food. And it was given with a spirit of generosity. There's a lot more here. What about the Owen table in the front? What did you guys come up with? I think the idea that the great grace was upon it. Very gracious, but maybe it's also God added to that as well. Yeah. So it was gracious. It was marked by spirit of grace. But then it's also God-given, right? Because God is the giver of all things, right? Including his grace. And it's a reflection of, just as God has shown grace to us in Christ, so we should show grace to one another, right? So there's another intangible element to that spirit of selfless giving. Yeah. Table in the back, Jeremy, what do you have? Anyone want to add to it? I was just thinking about the contrast between communism and what's going on here is that it's voluntary. Thank you. Yeah. Volitional. It was given, not taken. Exactly. It was given, not taken. Yeah. There's a great quote from Kent Hughes. Yeah, here's the quote. Communism says, practically, what is yours is everyone's. Christianity says, what is mine is yours. So as we're looking at these, the whole communism comparison just kind of fades into the background. That giving was not state-controlled, it was not coercive, it was not top-down. OK? The giving in the early church was volitional, individual, bottom-up, and given with a spirit of grace and self-sacrifice. Right? We had one of them say, they did it according to the apostle's doctrines, what they had learned. Ah, yes. You could say it was apostle-led. It was joyful. Is there an A in there? Yes. Guys, I'm working on my PhD. LED is the... Are the past tensors okay? No, it's just LED. Yes. Who let me astray? It's redefining the family. Interesting. All these things are things that belong to your family. It was a part of the generational wealth you would have passed down to your children. But family is no longer primarily defined through your bloodline. It's primarily defined through the work of the Holy Spirit and who he's gathering together. Good point, yeah. That's a good one. I didn't consider that, Joe. Yeah, all of these things are things that would have traditionally been passed down generation to generation, money and land, right? But you see the early church giving to whoever has Oh, I'm not going to support charity. I've got to pass on my inheritance to my son. Good point. Yeah. As opposed to Corban, did Jesus head the battle with the Pharisees? Right. Right. It was joyful. Joyful. Good. They gave joyfully, meaning they didn't say, here you go. Here's $20. They gave it a spirit of love, a spirit of joy, a spirit of happiness. Unity. Unity. Good, I was waiting for that one. They were of one mind. You see that all the way back in the beginning chapters of Acts, where you see the apostles praying right when Pentecost happens. It says they were of one spirit and one mind. That is a phrase that keeps coming back up again in the book of Acts. They were unified. Good we can keep going with these but I think we got most of them volitional there was unity grace power and care It was material land food clothing It was immaterial. It was there was time spent prayer time in the temple together fellowship That's the other one to consider there were immaterial aspects to giving it was self-sacrificial. It was significant land Real estate is expensive, right? So it was significant. It was freely given with no strings attached. It was a reflection of Christ's selfless love. It was organized. That's another one. And it was laid at the apostles' feet. There's this sense that it's an act of worship. The sense of laying something at someone's feet is a word picture for an act of worship. So let's just take a quick look at a cross-reference, because we're getting it from the historical perspective here in Acts. Let's pretend that, well, let's not pretend. Let's pretend we're the early church. Turn to 1 John 3, 1 John 3, just to drive this point home. And let's pretend we're the early church. And it still applies to us. Here's 1 John 3, and I'm just gonna read 16 through 18 here. 1 John 3, 16 through 18. We know love by this, that he, that's Christ, laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has the world's goods and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, How does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and in truth. I think that's something we can all apply. You can ask yourself this question, do I really love others in deed and in truth? Am I stingy with my time? when it comes to others who may need it. Am I stingy with my material possessions with those who may need it? It's a pretty sobering question to ask. But can you see how the connection there between because Christ gave his life as the ultimate example of self-sacrifice, So we too are called to live a life of self-sacrifice for one another, in the same spirit that we've seen on full display here in Acts chapter 4. Now, let's turn back to Acts 4, and let's get the specific example of Joseph slash Barnabas, the son of encouragement. This is 36 and 37. It says, Now Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian birth, who was called Barnabas by the apostles, which translated means son of encouragement, and who owned a tract of land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet. So, we've gone from the general, in the first few verses that we just discussed, to now the specific. There's a specific example of this one guy. And I think Luke is giving us the positive example here. Here's an example of what this should look like, right? And you can see all of the features that we just crowdsourced here are prevalent here in this Levite of Cyprian birth, who does exactly the kinds of things we've been discussing. Gives self-sacrificially, lays it at the apostle's feet. But then look at that first word of chapter 5. It says, but. So I think there's a transition in the narrative here. That was the good example that leads us into the selfish deception of Ananias and Sapphira. So now we get the negative example. We've just been given the positive example at the end of chapter 4. Here we're led into the negative example. Now, we've already read it, so let's take five minutes and do exactly what we did here in contrast. So let's ask the question, what characteristics of giving are prevalent in the Ananias and Sapphira account? Okay, just take the first chunk of Chapter 5 there and come up with a few. Okay, we'll take about four or five minutes for that. Go. We will now move to the 2-4-8-2-4-3-2-1-4-3-2-1-4-3-2-1-4-3-2-1-4-3-2-1-4-3-2-1-4-3-2-1-4-3-2-1-4-3-2-1-4-3-2-1-4-3-2-1-4-3-2-1-4-3-2-1-4-3-2-1-4-3-2-1-4-3-2-1-4-3-2-1-4-3-2-1-4-3-2-1-4-3-2-1-4-3-2-1-4-3-2-1-4-3-2-1-4-3-2-1-4-3-2-1-4-3-2-1-4- Yes. My soulmate wrote a poem about it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's been a long time since I've been on a plane. It's been a long time since I've been on a plane. We just need the word out. We just need the word out. Okay, sorry to interrupt yet again, but we're running short on time, so I've got to cut us off there. Okay. What's going on here? What characterizes Ananias and Sapphira's giving? Let's get the brown kek table over here. That's something you came up with. More for show. Yeah. Aha. Yes. Yes. So they gave the impression that they gave more than they actually did. Good. What else? Another table. Let's get the Madden table in the back. What did you guys come up with? Tom said that they just received the Holy Spirit and they lied. Yes. So it's that they lied to the Holy Spirit. Good. Now, since you brought this up, I'm going to jump down and just point something out here. This text actually is a great defense of the divinity of the Holy Spirit, the idea that the Holy Spirit is God. And just look at it with me and you'll see. Look at 5, 3, But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the lamb? You see that in verse three? Okay, now jump down to four, right? Keep reading. While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to... God, do you see how the Holy Spirit is equated with God in this text, right? So you're exactly right, Tom. They lie to the Holy Spirit. They lie to God. Do you see how that heightens the severity of the crime, right? Because God cares how we worship. Yeah, good point. What else? They were greedy. Greedy, yeah. There was a spirit of greed, perhaps, yeah. Yes. And when we talked about that, was it greed or was it lack of faith? Interesting. How would it be lack of faith in you? You know, maybe God won't care for us the way that they're saying, so we need to hold something back. Interesting. Just in case. Yes. Yeah, that could have been. Now what's interesting is that we're not really given their heart motive in this. Because it's a historical narrative. But you know what they did, right? And so we could ask the question, what could have motivated them to do that? There could have been a spirit of, we want to look like we're giving more than we are. In which case, that would be what? Part attitude that's sinful. Pride. Pride. Pride. Were they testing God? Because I think they were. You think they weren't? They were. They were testing God. OK. Why they would do that, I don't know. But they were. Yeah, how would they be testing God, Eric? Yeah, yeah, it's a good question, Eric. I don't have a clear answer for you, but I will say this. It could be because of the newness of the early church that Ananias and Sapphira were also new converts. So there could have been some ignorance on their part as well. We're just not told in the in the narrative there. I can't see definitively if they were testing God Intentionally, but they did end up putting God to the test, right? Yes Yes, so that's that's the showy attitude. Yeah, good good good anything else you came up with that's what characterized there Yeah And there's a very similar approach to what happened to Judas. Oh, good. OK. I have that in here. Yes. So John chapter 13, 1 through 2. I think it's the only two times in the New Testament where it says Satan actually filled someone's heart. So in the Last Supper, it says that the devil filled Judas' heart to betray Jesus. And here it says, Peter says, why has Satan filled your heart? To lie to the Holy Spirit. And whatever else is happening, you mentioned all the persecution. Realize that gathering and establishing the Church of Christ is a spiritual battle. Yes. Just like the last list, there's also a coalition. I was thinking about that too. You were talking about the Holy Spirit and how it shows that. But there's also, it says, Satan has filled your heart. But then you go down and it says, why is it that you have control of this being? So, there's this reality of Satan. Satan filled their heart. There's actually a good text on, can you blame the devil for all of your mistakes? No, you can't, right? There's still volition there. And notice the word collude. You notice how they would have had to have probably gotten together and figured this out beforehand? Because they had their story the same, right? And Peter brings Sapphira in and asks her the same question, and she lies the same way. So that's why it says they colluded together. So I think you're exactly right, Jeremy. There was this collusion between the two of them to lie to the Holy Spirit. Did they do it out of stupidity? Because to me, this is stupid. Why would you do this? Well, I mean, there's a couple of things to consider, Eric. They might not have read their Old Testament as much. And I know we read our Old Testaments all the time. And we can, we see the example of, think of a couple of Old Testament examples of God striking people for worshiping incorrectly. Nadab and Abedu. The offer of strange fire. all of them gone. You could even, you could even say Dathan and Abiram. There's... Unpack it, Jeremy. Unpack that a bit. So, Jesus, beginning of chapter 6, beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them. Yes. And he talks about when he gets to the meat, he doesn't sound the trumpet as the hypocrites do, to be praised by others. But instead, do what you do in secret. He says the same thing about prayer, about fasting. And so this is, you know, we look at the Sermon on the Mount as the way in which Christian should live with the standard of Christ. And they were not doing that. Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. So this is what the Pharisees and the hypocrites do. It seems like this is not the way the Church of Christ is going to operate. Yep. Question time. Quiz time. I'll cold call someone. I'm not supposed to do this in education, but I do it all the time. Josh Draper. Who is the father of lies in the Bible? The devil. That's right. So, can you see that there's this, this is going off of Joe's point that Satan filled their hearts, right? We can see that there's a spirit of deception here. And Joe also pointed out that it was at a pivotal transition period here, as the church was being established. I think that adds to the severity of the offense here, because the church was just being established. And to have that spirit of deception take root there, God seems to really have wanted to squelch this and nip it in the bud. When you say the fear of the Lord, there's this idea that in the Old Testament, God is to be, you're supposed to be scared of him, but then in the New Testament, God's your buddy buddy, right? And I think that this text just dispels that completely, right? Because how many times does it say, fear fell upon the church here in chapter five? Did anyone spot the word fear? Just look down at your text, is fear in there in chapter five? Verse 11? Yeah, and it's a couple places earlier as well. It says, great fear fell on the church there. That doesn't mean necessarily fear as in taskmaster fear. But I think it does mean, and I think there would be a healthy sense of fear of losing your life. Can you imagine if I got up here with some pretense of being more spiritual than I was, and I just fell over dead? Okay, do you think that would make you guys think twice before getting up to teach Sunday school, if God would like strike me dead for having false pretenses here? I think there would be a healthy dose of actual fear, but then also the idea of the fear of God is more of a healthy reverence, not desire to avoid a harsh taskmaster. So I think that's an application here. You can see the early church did, fear God after this. They realized how serious an offense it was to partake in this spiritual deception. Yeah, Matt? I think one of the examples that the supplier in Ananias' story calls out is for today, today's church, with all the resources we have available, we shouldn't just take it as an implicit sort of thing, but for a new believer, who's struggling or just trying to learn, like the class that's going out, I'm serious, what does our church believe and why do we believe it? Well, it's so critical for a congregation to come around a new believer to make sure they understand what it is we're about, what we believe and what we don't believe and why, and I think this is a great example of As you pointed out earlier, they might have been new believers. Well, did they understand what it meant to be a part of the church? When we say give, sacrificially, or whatever it might mean, what does that really mean? And is your heart in the right place? Yeah. That's really good, Matt. Thank you. We're out of time, but I just want to give you one concluding thought here as we wrap it up. Do you remember that time in John chapter 4, Jesus is talking to that Samaritan woman, right? And she says, our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and some say Jerusalem is the proper place to worship. And then Jesus responds with, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father, but an hour is coming and now is when the true worshippers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth for such people the father seeks to be his worshipers God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth So I think we can see here if we fast forward now 30 or so years after Christ said that in John chapter 3 the part of the worship equation that was missing in the case of Ananias and Sapphira and They were not worshipping in spirit and in truth, right? They were worshipping in their own flesh and with the spirit of deception. So a convicting question to ask yourself is this. Do I partake in spiritual deception? It might not be as bad as Ananias and Sapphira, right? Giving the lying, colluding together, getting the story straight, it's a lie about a financial gift. But think about, do you, in your heart, try to appear more spiritual than you really are, right? Do you put on that facade, and what would the consequences be? I think it would behoove us all to examine our hearts in light of this text, because it just drives home how serious worship is in the new covenant. That's where I'll leave it for today. Would you bow with me for a word of prayer? Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this morning, thank you for these people, and thank you for the church that you have built, Lord. that it's all of you, thank you for giving your Holy Spirit to indwell us, that we may then turn and give to others out of a selfless, generous, volitional, Spirit-filled sense of giving. Lord bless us as we go into our service, be with the sermon as it is preached, and give us receptive hearts as we pray in Christ's name. Amen. Thanks everyone. That's so funny. I wonder if they were the ones who grazed beer came upon? That was the most in-between. I'm sure it's, oh, we're out of time. We're going to keep talking. And at, like, university, oh, we're done. Bye. We're done. Bye. Yeah. The professors, like, they said, well, I guess it's next time. See you. Exactly. Yeah. That's it. For me, I mean, I'm not a citizen. It's just, I'm still not really an alien. I mean, it's not in the process for me right now, because I'm not having a machine. Yeah, I can't really put it that way. Thank you, yeah, I hope it does. We support five capital banks, IT teams, with managing their software. One of these companies is a company called NetApp Office. We don't, we're not, the DevOps is a part of what we're doing, but we're not all DevOpsies. We are doing it for the Apple. We may actually create, like, a tool for it, or, you know, like, it's part of what we're doing, but we have to be able to do it for the Apple. So, yeah. I don't want to get into that. Okay. So, okay. Oh, okay. I would say if we ask for it, it's also if we are not taking it lightly, it could be more... It's a spiritual law. I need to not take it lightly when he's lying about it. I feel wonderful with my whole body. I can't get around it, but I love it. I don't want it to be like that. I don't want it to be like that. I don't want it to be like that. I don't want it to be like that. I don't want it to be like that. I don't want it to be like that. I don't want it to be like that. I don't want it to be like that. I don't want it to be like that. I don't want it to be like that. I don't want it to be like that. I don't want it to be like that. I don't want it to be like that. I don't want it to be like that. I don't want it to be like that. I don't want it to be like that. I don't want it to be like that. I don't want it to be like that. I don't want it to be like that. I don't want it to be like that. I don't want Good brother for leaning in