Episode 133 – Deadly Deception – Acts 5:1-16

Speaker 1:

It is time for a pause in your day. Welcome to a podcast where we press the pause button on our busy lives for a few moments, and we focus on God’s word with Sharon and Nicole. We pray this is a time of refreshing for you. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries.

Nicole:

Welcome to Sweet Selah Moments. This is episode 133, Deadly Deception. Last week we celebrated the incredible unity amongst the believers of the early church. Today sadly we are reminded that human beings are fallible and sinful, and therefore churches are far from perfect. Also, we’ll learn that there are consequences when we sin.

Sharon:

Oh, that word consequences. It brings back such memories of the time when our daughter lived with us, with her four kids at the time, while her husband was in Afghanistan, she had a little girl who was three years old at the time, little Mercedes, and I can’t remember the context, but there was a rule she was supposed to obey, and I was in charge of her. It might’ve been getting to bed, and you know Mary said, now Nina’s in charge of you. You know, that kind of thing. So anyways, in the cutest little voice ever, she said, if we don’t obey you, there will be consequences. (Nicole: Oh!) And I’m like, oh, darling, consequences. I guess you don’t want those consequences. And she had these big eyes, you know, like there will be consequences. (Right. Not consequences.) I know, not that. It was probably with Mercedes, all you needed to do is speak sharply at her. I mean, you know how some kids are just softhearted. (Yeah) So it wouldn’t have been severe, but to Mercedes it would’ve been severe, just a little talking to a sweet girl. So how about you? Do you have consequences in your house?

Nicole:

We do, in fact. We have many. It’s funny, they change over the years and they change from kid to kid, because children are so very different.

Sharon:
They’re so different. You think you’ve got it figured out.

Nicole: Yes.

Sharon:
And then another one comes along, you’re like, wait a second. That didn’t work for you. Yeah.

Nicole:

Yes. Especially with four girls, I kind of figured, oh, we’ve raised one little girl so far, we’ll do the–, Oh, no, you’re completely different. Okay, well maybe we’ll use some of the–., Nope. The third one’s different too. And the fourth one, I just threw my hands up.You each have your own thing, but it’s been fun. So they have changed over the years, but recently we’ve been doing this button system. They can earn buttons for doing chores. And they can cash those buttons in for cash or for TV time, screen time. For like an ice cream date with dad or shopping, you know, little fun things.

Sharon:

That’s so fun.

Nicole:

So one of the cool things about that is if they disobey, they lose buttons. (Sharon: Oh) And, you know, that’s very effective. Not my buttons. One day, one of my children, which I won’t name, I was like, oh, you haven’t been earning your buttons. You haven’t been putting them in. She’s like, well, you’re just gonna take them away. I was like, well, honey, I don’t just take them away for fun. It’s because you disobey. But she was just not admitting it was her fault. (Uh-huh) Yeah. Mom just takes it away.

Sharon: Funny.

Nicole:
Funny how that happens, but yes, that’s been pretty effective.

Sharon:

I think the button thing is fun. And I think, you know how families have codes, kind of, you’ve got a code. Don’t take my buttons.

Nicole: Right. What?

Sharon:
No one outside your family would have a clue.

Nicole:
It’s so true. I never thought of that.

Sharon: Yeah. Yeah.

Nicole:
Not my buttons Mom. Like what?

Sharon:

We have all kinds of things like that in our family too. You know, like ice cream for dinner, when we say that. Well, I guess that’s actually pretty normal. But anyways, it’s one of our favorite code words.

Nicole: That’s great.

Sharon:

So, so funny. With my girls, a lot of times it was, you know, if you want friends to come over to play, because I homeschooled for a long time, we have to get through X amount of work, and if we’re not done the consequence is they can’t come because the work comes first. You know, that kind of thing was just sort of a natural consequence. So, and (Nicole: Oh, sure) we have consequences as adults too. (We do) If

we speed, for example, police cars with flashing blue lights come up behind us, and we are pulled over and asked to pay a fine. (I know) I’ll never forget one of my funnest pullovers, I know they’re not fun, but I was coming home from somewhere, I think it was like a Bible study, like a really holy thing. (Funny. Right) And I had praise music turned up loud, and I was singing to the Lord, (Just rocking out in your car) and I was going 50 miles an hour in a 35 miles an hour zone.

Nicole: Oh, no.

Sharon:

And I didn’t even know I was doing it. That’s no excuse. I know. That’s no excuse. I’m just saying, I didn’t say, I think I’ll break the law. I just did. So there’s a police car at the end of the bridge, and I’m like, I look at my speedometer, I’m going 50 miles an hour and it’s a 35. (Nicole: Oh no) So I pull over and there’s like five cars pulled over. It’s like this sting operation they’re doing. Right. And so I roll down the window and I say to him, I so deserve this. (Oh) Because I mean, I did. (Right, kInd of refreshing) And I didn’t say my excuse is that I’ve been praising God. I just said

Nicole:
That would’ve been–,

Sharon:

I just said, I so deserve this. And there’s these grumpy people in the other cars. And you know what he did?

Nicole: What?

Sharon:
He said, you know what, go ahead.

Nicole:
Wow, Sharon.

Sharon: I know.

Nicole:
That’s pretty good.

Sharon:
And then the grumpy faces got grumpier.

Nicole:
Right, how’d she get off?

Sharon:

So, but anyways, I was just receiving the consequence. You know, I did deserve it. And I got grace. So.

Nicole:
That’s awfully nice.

Sharon: Yeah.

Nicole:

I know. Well, these natural consequences, they’re a lot of fun, but they’re effective. I think God puts ’em in place to keep us. We don’t have parents now to say, Hey, don’t do that. So for us, it is those natural consequences and God gently guiding us or not so gently sometimes.

Sharon: He does.

Nicole:

I know for me lately, I feel like I’ve been having some natural consequences with food, trying to make healthier choices. But there’s certain foods that really affect my joints and make my eczema flare up, and my hands will crack if I eat them. And they’re not the most healthy food. So it’s kind of a natural consequence for me to really strengthen my self-control, self-discipline.

Sharon:
Yep. Yep. Yep.

Nicole: And say no.

Sharon:
Yep. Yep. So grownups have consequences too.

Nicole:
We do. We can’t escape ’em.

Sharon:
Yeah. Yeah. My bedtimes are definitely consequences. If I go to bed too late, then the next day’s hard.

Nicole:
Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Sharon:

Just is. So God wants us to be disciplined and careful for our own good. When we aren’t (Nicole: Yes) it hurts us, basically. Well, today we’re gonna read a story in Acts of a couple who were deceitful. But I don’t think anyone, especially them, expected the consequence that followed the deceit. (Yeah) No. So let’s read the passage now. You go ahead.

Nicole:

All right. We’re gonna do Acts 5:1-16. And I’ll start with verse one. “But there was a certain man named Ananias, who, with his wife, Sapphira, sold some property.”

Sharon:

“He brought part of the money to the apostles, claiming it was the full amount. With his wife’s consent, he kept the rest.”

Nicole:

“Then Peter said, Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself.”

Sharon:

“The property was yours to sell or not sell as you wished. And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren’t lying to us, but to God.”

Nicole:

“As soon as Ananias heard these words, he fell to the floor and died. Everyone who heard about it was terrified.”

Sharon:
“Then some young men got up, wrapped him in a sheet and took him out and buried him.

Nicole:
Happened to have a sheet.

Sharon:
Oh, my goodness.

Nicole:
“About three hours later, his wife came in not knowing what had happened.”

Sharon:

“Peter asked her, Was this the price you and your husband received for your land? Yes. She replied, that was the price.”

Nicole:

“And Peter said, how could the two of you even think of conspiring to test the Spirit of the Lord like this? The young men who buried your husband are just outside the door, and they will carry you out too.”

Sharon:

“Instantly, she fell to the floor and died. When the young men came in and saw that she was dead, they carried her out and buried her beside her husband.

Nicole:

“Great fear gripped the entire church and everyone else who heard what had happened.”

Sharon:
Oh, yeah. The apostles (just sort of changing the topics here)

Nicole: Meanwhile–,

Sharon:

Yeah. We’ll go back to the story, verse 12. “The apostles were performing many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers were meeting regularly at the temple in the area known as Solomon’s Colonnade.”

Nicole:
“But no one else dared to join them, even though all the people had high regard for them.”

Sharon:
“Yet, more and more people believed and were brought to the Lord, crowds of both men and women.”

Nicole:

“As a result of the apostles work, sick people were brought out into the streets on beds and mats, so that Peter’s shadow might fall across some of them as he went by.”

Sharon:

“Crowds came from the villages around Jerusalem bringing their sick and those possessed by evil spirits. And they were all healed.” So we had this last time, too, there are two very distinctive parts of this story.

Nicole: Yes.

Sharon:

There’s this, oh, for crying out loud, you lied about something and now you are dead, both of you, Ananais and Sapphira story. And then there’s this huge amount of miracles. Until I reread this, I’d forgotten how many healings and miracles there were at the beginning of the church. So, but we’re gonna talk about them separately in sections. So Nicole, why don’t you start by setting up the deception of Ananias and Sapphira and what happened.

Nicole:

Okay. So we’re gonna go backwards a little bit to Acts 4, the last chapter, because the last few verses of Acts 4 kind of set the scene for us. So here’s Acts 4:32-37. “All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own. So they shared everything they had. The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s great blessing was upon them all. There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need. For instance, there was Joseph, the one the apostles nicknamed Barnabas, which means son of encouragement. He was from the tribe of Levi and

came from the island of Cyprus. He sold a field he owned and brought the money to the apostles.” So here, Barnabas, we love Barnabas.

Sharon: We do.

Nicole:

He set this great example, he had some land, he sold his fields, and he gave the money to the apostles, which they would take and give to those who were needy in the community.

Sharon: Right.

Nicole:

So this all was going fairly well. There was no command for this. It was not a demand on this. This was people being led by the Spirit. They felt like what they had was not their own. So there we go.

Sharon: Okay.

Nicole:

So now we’re gonna go back to Acts 5:1-2. “But there was a certain man named Ananias, who, with his wife, Sapphira, sold some property. He brought some of the money to the apostles, claiming it was the full amount. With his wife’s consent, he kept the rest. So this is a little bit different. They premeditated this with his wife. They sold the property. They kept some of the amount with his wife’s consent, and then brought another portion of it to the apostles to share. So they weren’t asked to do this. It doesn’t seem like they were led by the Spirit to do this. There was kind of this like sneaky underhanded.

Sharon:
Oh yeah. They wanted credit for giving all their money, but they weren’t giving all their money.

Nicole: Right. No.

Sharon:
Look, we sold this and we’re giving you all our money.

Nicole: Right.

Sharon:
No, No, you’re not. It’s okay if you gave part of it, but it’s not okay to say you gave all of it.

Nicole:

Right. And well, that’s the thing. They didn’t have to say that. They could have just said, Hey, we’re gonna give you half and we’re gonna keep half. And everyone would’ve been perfectly fine with that.

Sharon:
Everyone would have been, now, they wouldn’t have looked quite as holy as Barnabas, I guess.

Nicole:
Because he sold the whole thing.

Sharon:
I mean good grief.

Nicole:
But there’s some weird pre meditated stuff going on here.

Sharon:

Absolutely. Absolutely. So, all right, let’s review the consequences to Ananias. “Then Peter said, Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit and you kept some of the money for yourself. The property was yours to sell or not sell as you wished. And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away.” This is not Communism.

Nicole: Right.

Sharon:
This is not, you joined the Christian cult and we now get all your money.

Nicole: Right.

Sharon:

No, this was their free choice. And that’s very clear here about that. How could you do a thing like this? You weren’t lying to us, but to God. Okay. So as soon as Ananias heard these words, I mean that instantly, he’s dead. He falls the floor and dies.

Nicole: Right.

Sharon:
And of course, everyone who heard about it was terrified. Wouldn’t you be?

Nicole: Yeah.

Sharon:

What? And then some young men, who probably never forgot this, got up, found a sheet to wrap–, I mean, it’s not like,

Nicole:
I wanna know where the sheet came from.

Sharon:
I know. It’s not like they were planning on a death that day.

Nicole: Right.

Sharon:
But there’s this dead body.

Nicole:
Oh my word.

Sharon:

So they had to grab something fast, and they went out and buried him. Now, I mean, no one killed him. He just dropped dead. Oh, man. Alive. It feels like that’s a kind of severe punishment. Right?

Nicole:
It does. Yeah.

Sharon:

Well, you know, it’s interesting because as I was studying this, I just finished reading portions of the book of Leviticus, which is interesting reading too. And I think it’s fascinating that at the beginning of the time in the wilderness, there were really severe consequences for people that disobeyed. And at the beginning of the church, there were really severe consequences for Ananias and Sapphira. So let me read, Leviticus 10:1-2 “Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu put coals of fire in their incense burners and sprinkled incense over them. In this way, they disobeyed the Lord by burning before him the wrong kind of fire different from what he had commanded. Okay. So that doesn’t sound huge. It wasn’t what was commanded, though. That’s not what they’re supposed to burn. (Nicole: Right) Maybe it was easier to do it than whatever they were supposed to do.

Nicole:
Right. We don’t know their intentions and why.

Sharon:

I have no idea. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or maybe, they thought it didn’t matter. Come on, this is getting picky. Right.

Nicole: That’s true.

Sharon:
So they got judg-y. I don’t know. God does not tell us that.

Nicole: Right.

Sharon:

Verse two. “So fire blazed forth from the Lord’s presence and burned them up, and they died there before the Lord.

Nicole: Yikes.

Sharon:
Okay. So they put the wrong incense in the torch and now they’re dead. Right.

Nicole:
Yeah. That does seem a little harsh, but,

Sharon:

Yeah. So my kind of pondering, this is the fun about the Bible, Nicole. If you just read it fast, you don’t, there’s so much you miss.

Nicole: Oh, sure.

Sharon:

When you have to meditate on and think, Lord, why? Seeing the parallel accounts, I think that God at the beginning of something, you know, the beginning of that wilderness journey and the tabernacle and all the things, the beginning of the early church, is saying, I mean what I say. I am really real. We are not creating rules to just go through the motions on. (Nicole: Right) I tell you to do things and I’m real and I expect you to do it.

Nicole:
They’re for a reason.

Sharon: Yes.

Nicole:
We may not always know the reason. We have to trust that his rules are for a reason.

Sharon:

Right. So it’s a sobering reminder that if God tells you something, you best do it. And believe me, I am sure that the priests after Aaron’s sons were like using the right incense.

Nicole:

Probably a lot more cautious. And maybe it was a heart check for them. Maybe their hearts weren’t in the right place and things were kind of getting sloppy.

Sharon: Right.

Nicole:
And so this renewed their passion for him to do it as a motive of sacrifice or offering.

Sharon: Exactly so.

Nicole:
As opposed to just doing my job, I’ll just use this leftover.

Sharon:
Yeah. This is easier.

Nicole:
Right. So who knows.

Sharon:
No, no, no. God told you what to do, you need to do it.

Nicole: Yeah.

Sharon:

Yeah. Yeah. So, that was the first thing that I thought of was that, and then I also, um, just fascinated about how we all wanna look better than we are. You know, Ananias and Sapphira wanted to look better than they were. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And I have discovered the hard way that it is better to confess how wrong you are when you’re wrong. And just get it over with. And very annoyingly, when I give speeches, the favorite parts of all my speeches are when I tell about something I did wrong. And I’m like, why is that people?

Nicole:
Tell the Cheerio story. I know.

Sharon:
Yeah. Oh my goodness.

Nicole:
Isn’t that funny?

Sharon:

But there’s something that humanizes us that makes people relate, that says, Hey, I am a sinner struggling to get this right. There’s a unity in that. There’s a linking arms in that, that is not there when you’ve got someone that’s sort of above saying, well, I’ve mastered it, what’s your problem?

Nicole: Right.

Sharon: Right?

Nicole: Right.

Sharon:
So we have got to be the real us.

Nicole:

Yes. And if Ananias and Sapphira had said, you know what, you guys, we don’t feel led to give the whole amount. I think the apostles would’ve said, that is fine.

Sharon:
Right. They wouldn’t have thought less of them.

Nicole:
No. But they wanted to look better than they were. So.

Nicole:
I know. And that’s such a dangerous place.

Sharon:

So fascinating. Yeah. I can run into this when I have set aside a day to be with the Lord and then someone asks me to do something, it’s really hard for me to say, oh, you need me, but I need to be with Jesus. So it’s tempting to say something else. And yet I’ve tried to be honest and say, well, I can help you this much. But honestly, if I don’t have my once a month day with the Lord, I can’t maintain the pace that I think he wants me to maintain. So on this day, I really can’t do more than this. You know?

Nicole: Right. Right.

Sharon:
And sometimes I have to say that. Sometimes I can change my selah day and serve if the need is great.

Nicole: Sure.

Sharon:

But I shouldn’t make up different reasons. It should be okay for me to say, this is the day I’ve already set apart for Jesus.

Nicole: Right.

Sharon:
I shouldn’t have to sound like I’m busy.

Nicole:
Right. To sound more impressive almost.

Sharon: Right. Right.

Nicole:

Because it does almost sound, it feels like it’s an easy out, well, I’m just gonna spend the day with Jesus. I don’t wanna help you.

Sharon:
Yeah, I know. It sounds terrible.

Nicole:

But it’s not. But when you structure your entire life around those moments of rest with him in order to serve at a certain capacity.

Sharon: Right.

Nicole:
Those days are very important.

Sharon: They’re vital.

Nicole:
You need them. Or you can’t serve the rest of the month.

Sharon:
Well, exactly. And there are always needs.

Nicole: Yes.

Sharon:

Now, if God redirects, yes, Lord.

Nicole: Yes.

Sharon:
You know, it’s not like my mom’s having a heart attack and I’m like, sorry, selah day.

Nicole:
It’s my selah day.

Sharon:

Right. So obviously it’s circumstantial, but my temptation is always to say, well, I’ve got so much ministry work.

Nicole: Right.

Sharon:
Because that somehow sounds more justifiable.

Nicole: Right. It does.

Sharon:
Yeah. But no, no, I’ve got a selah day.

Nicole: Right.

Sharon:
And that’s sacred.

Nicole:
It is. Oh, I love that.

Sharon:

So anyways, okay. So this is what fascinates me, Nicole, is Sapphira, Ananias’ wife. ‘Cause we’re back in a time where the husbands had all the control and the wives had very little.

Nicole: True.

Sharon: Right?

Nicole: Yeah.

Sharon:

And wives are supposed to obey in even a bigger way than I think God even wants now for us to do. We are to submit to one another, and we are certainly to honor our husbands, but Sapphira doesn’t get a pass because she was the wife. Ananias decides to do this. She agrees. Okay. So they make it clear that she agreed with it. So they’re giving Sapphira here autonomy.

Nicole: Yes.

Sharon:
Sapphira as a human being, can’t hide under Ananias told me to do it.

Nicole: Right.

Sharon:

She was responsible for what she chose as well. What’s comforting about this is if Ray tells me to rob a bank I don’t have to do it.

Nicole: Right.

Sharon:
Ta da. Right.

Nicole:
So that’s good. We get a pass.

Sharon:
I know. Not that Ray would remotely do that, but you know what I’m saying.

Nicole: Oh, sure.

Sharon:
I am responsible before God to obey God rather than men.

Nicole: Yes.

Sharon:
Sapphira was responsible before God to obey God rather than men.

Nicole: Yes.

Sharon:
So she was an equal partner in that. And she got dead too.

Nicole:
She did get dead too.

Sharon:
So anyway, can you read that part of the story, the Sapphira part?

Nicole:

Yes. So verse 7-11 says, “About three hours later, his wife came in not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her, was this the price you and your husband received for your land? Yes. She replied, that was the price. And Peter said, how could the two of you even think of conspiring to test the Spirit of the Lord like this? The young men who buried your husband are just outside the door and they will carry you out too. Instantly she fell to the floor and died. When the young man came in and saw that she was dead, they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. Great fear gripped the entire church and everyone else who heard what had happened.”

Sharon: Yeah.

Nicole:
You think? Two people just dropped dead in the service.

Sharon: Yeah. Yeah.

Nicole:

So I think the consequence for her was as severe, because in the very first verse it says, “Ananias with Sapphira sold the land. (Sharon: Yes) And then kept the portion of the money, which she agreed to.”

Sharon:
With her consent.

Nicole:

Yes. So at the very beginning it sets up that he didn’t sell the land, and then she just kind of, it did sound like they were together in this.

Sharon:
Yes. So she’s responsible because she was an active participant.

Nicole:

Correct. Yes.

Sharon:
So perhaps if she wasn’t, she wouldn’t be. God is so good that way. He knows our hearts.

Nicole:
Yeah. But then she came in and, I mean, who knows, but she was an active participant in this.

Sharon:
Yeah. And she really paid for it.

Nicole: Yeah. Yeah.

Sharon:

She absolutely did. So. And it’s interesting to me that the Holy Spirit revealed to Peter what had happened because Peter’s like, Hey, you’re lying to me. How did Peter know that?

Nicole: Right.

Sharon:
He did. He knew it. God revealed it.

Nicole:

He did. Well it’s interesting ’cause this passage, I remember I was thinking it was like a big thing against lying. You know, this is a story you told. Oh, you heard about Ananias and Sapphira, they dropped dead ’cause they lied. Like, I don’t wanna ever lie, I’m gonna drop dead. But I think it goes a little deeper than that too. It was this heart condition before, this conspiring to trick God.

Sharon: Yes. Yes.

Nicole:
To look better than they were supposed to. It wasn’t just the lying. Lying is very serious.

Sharon: Right.

Nicole:

I think in Proverbs there’s a section that says ‘there’s six things the Lord hates, nay seven he despises and one of them is lying lips’.

Sharon:
Lying lips. Right.

Nicole:

He does not take lying lightly. Lies are big for God. I think because they, they entrap us and create such a web, such a world that harms us so much.

Sharon: Right. Right.

Nicole:
Along with others. So God’s like, don’t lie.

Sharon: Don’t do it.

Nicole:
It’s miserable. The consequences are so much bigger (Sharon: Yes, yes) than you wanna deal with, really.

Sharon:
Absolutely. He wants the real us.

Nicole: Yes.

Sharon:

And if we’re deceitful and lying we’re not the real us. He wants us messy and and sinful and fragile. He wants us to come to him as we are.

Nicole:

And if they had showed up and said, Lord, we’re nervous, we’re not gonna be able to pay our bills. If they didn’t have the faith to give all, he would’ve been fine with that.

Sharon: Yes. Yes.

Nicole:

It’s just this conspiring, this heart condition to appear better than they were. They premeditated lying. I think that’s why the consequence was so severe. Because it said something about Satan had filled your heart. So it feels like something was going on more than just, oh we’ll just keep some money. (Sharon: Yeah) And this is a new early church and I think again, the consequence was severe maybe to protect the rest in that group. (Yes) If they showed up, appeared to be as good as Barnabas, they could have led people astray. We don’t know what could have happened.

Sharon:
Oh my goodness. Yes.

Nicole:

But it could have gotten messy quickly to have people whose hearts were filled with Satan be part of this group.

Sharon:

Yeah. And you know, I’m thinking, I hadn’t thought of this before, but I wonder if they had gotten bitter, like, oh, for crying out loud, I am not gonna give every penny that we sold to the church. Who do they think they are? Not that anyone asked it of them.

Nicole: Right.

Sharon:

But if you get that bitterness, then Satan comes right in and whispers, they are asking too much. You know, that kind of thing. So then they’ve got this hardened heart, which if it had gone unchecked would’ve caused all kinds of trouble.

Nicole: Sure.

Sharon:
Yeah. So, alright.

Nicole:
There was a lot more here than just lying.

Sharon: Yes.

Nicole:
I think there’s a lot more heart stuff brewing’.

Sharon:

There sure was. So, okay, now we’re gonna look at the second section, at what happened after their death. So I’m gonna read again because we are walking away from Ananias and Sapphira who have been buried.

Nicole: Yes.

Sharon:

Bless ’em. There we go. And I’m reading Acts 5:12-16. “The apostles were performing many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers were meeting regularly at the temple in the area known as Solomon’s Colonade. But no one else dared to join them, even though all the people had high regard for them. Yet more and more people believed and were brought to the Lord, crowds of both men and women. As a result of the apostles work sick people were brought out into the streets on beds and mats so that Peter’s shadow might fall across some of them as he went by. Crowds came from the

villages around Jerusalem bringing their sick and those possessed by evil spirits and they were all healed.” So God not only punished severely back then, he showed up extremely.

Nicole:
Yeah. He did.

Sharon:

Boy, oh boy. Even Peter’s shadow was enough for people who trusted Jesus to be healed. So it must have been an amazing time.

Nicole: Oh yeah.

Sharon:

The Pharisees who had tried to stop it all by killing Jesus must have been going crazy because the healing is still going on and Jesus, they think, is dead. Even without Jesus, the disciples are healing in Jesus’ name, still about Jesus. And this is how the early church got such an amazing start.

Nicole:
That’s so neat. I love that. That’s so, his shadow though. Wow. That makes you wonder.

Sharon: Yeah.

Nicole:

Like can you imagine just walking and people putting their sick in your shadow because they know that you have power from God.

Sharon:

Unbelievable. Yeah. Ah, incredible. So, alright, well let’s look at our three questions to end the study. Let’s get practical. So first of all, Nicole, what was your favorite verse?

Nicole:

I picked verse 14. It said, “Yet more and more people believed and were brought to the Lord, crowds of both men and women”. So this verse is right after Ananias and Sapphira were struck dead in their meeting place. That could have really deterred people. It’s a new faith kind of blossoming. So I love that nothing stops God’s work, even when we seem to mess it up badly as humans. That could, like you see new stories. Oh no. They’re gonna hurt the Christian faith with their terrible testimony.

Sharon: Uh-huh.

Nicole:
Or being bad Christians or whatever. God’s work still continues.

Sharon:

He can continue through it all. Amen.

Nicole:
We can’t stop him. So I love that.

Sharon:

That’s so good. Well, I chose 12, and it was really the second part of verse 12 “and all the believers were meeting regularly at the temple”. I love the meeting regularly (Nicole: Yeah) ’cause Hebrews also says, “do not forsake assembling together as some (Yes) are In the habit of doing, but rather encourage each other”. (Yeah) It’s really important that no matter what seems to get in the way of it, we meet together to strengthen each other. And I think that’s one of the reasons they stayed strong. Yeah. (Yeah, I think so) Okay. So I’ll answer number two first and then you can, what did we learn about God from this passage? Well, number one, God is not mocked. (No) He’s real. He’s love, but he’s also holy. (Mm-Hmm) And you don’t try to think you’re going deceive him. (Yeah) Number two, God poured out his Spirit in healing in a huge way during the early church, which is amazing. And number three, he can reveal hidden things because he told Peter, I think, (Oh yeah, that’s right) I think he told Peter. I mean maybe Peter discovered it some other way, but. (Right) Yeah. Okay, so those are mine on God.

Nicole: That’s good.

Sharon:
What’d you learn about God?

Nicole:

I put he’s just, he can’t tolerate sin. He’s just so big. He’s big with his justice and he’s big with his generosity and his grace. He’s just a big God.

Sharon: He is.

Nicole:
He gives big.

Sharon:
He so is. I love it.

Nicole:

I put truth is important, but also I was thinking unity and kind of protecting the church. He protects us sometimes.

Sharon: Yes.

Nicole:

From something that could have become, we might just see this and go, that’s a really harsh consequence for sin, but left unchecked, we have no idea what that could have caused.

Sharon: Absolutely.

Nicole:
In the church.

Sharon:
And he knew.

Nicole:
And he knew.

Sharon:
And we can trust him.

Nicole: Exactly. So.

Sharon:

Yeah. Yeah. So, okay. Well what did you learn about the early church, Nicole, and how can we apply that to today?

Nicole:

Oh, their generosity. I’m just so struck by their generosity. How they were faithfully meeting together. They were praying and they were receptive to the Holy Spirit when he convicted them. Hey, what you have is not your own. Sell it. Look at those who are needy. And then you can all focus on the message of my resurrection. I just think that’s really neat that they were open enough to him to hear that.

Sharon:
Yes. Filled with compassion.

Nicole: Yeah.

Sharon:
Beautiful. Beautiful. And that’s what we need to have.

Nicole:
Yes, for sure.

Sharon:

Yeah. So, well I had the that they met regularly part, the early church always met at Solomon’s Colonnade. That’s what they did. So, they cared for each other’s physical needs as well as spiritual, which you just said. And they kept growing. And this is interesting because I think a human tendency is to form little cliques and think you’re big enough.

Nicole:
Yes. You’re comfortable.

Sharon:
You’re comfortable and you don’t really wanna add anybody else because it might change the dynamic.

Nicole: Right.

Sharon:

Right. I have run into that with bible studies, with prayer groups and all kinds of things where it’s almost the selfish thing that you wanna do is like, oh, but I just love us.

Nicole: Right.

Sharon:

You know? But maybe the kind thing is to keep growing. And in the case of the church, the church needed to keep growing.

Nicole: Yes.

Sharon:

Even if it got so big, it felt unwieldy. You don’t keep people out of learning about Jesus and the resurrection. So they didn’t form a comfortable clique. They continued to call people to come. Thousands came, how do you deal with thousands? They didn’t know, but they didn’t say, whoa, stop. They kept bringing people in. And we need to do that in our church too. We need to always welcome new people. Sometimes my brain is so full of old people that I already know that smiling at somebody in church can be hard because I’m like, oh, I have to meet somebody new again. (Nicole: Right) Well, yes I do. (Mm- Hmm) Yeah. So anyways.

Nicole:
Oh, that’s good.

Sharon:

Let me pray. Heavenly Father, help us. Help us. Help us to be compassionate and kind and welcoming to new people that walk into our churches. Help us to look to you and want to meet with you regularly, want to meet with others regularly. Oh Lord Jesus. Give us that enthusiasm and zest of the early church to follow you wholeheartedly no matter what. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Nicole:

Amen. We love studying God’s word with you. You can reach us by emailing us at sharon@sweetselah.org. You can find all our podcast episodes at sweetselah.org/podcast. And if you wanna help us continue sharing the word through study and discussion, please enable us to continue our work by donating @sweetselah.org/donations. As always, we’ll hope you’ll come back next week for episode 134, Facing Opposition. Thanks so much for listening and have a great week.

Speaker 1:

We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found @sweetselah.org. Thank you for joining us.