1 00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:15,440 Happy Monday last week of school. 2 00:00:16,400 --> 00:00:20,080 Summer's in the air. You can feel it can't Yeah, you 3 00:00:20,080 --> 00:00:23,280 can feel it like kids are just getting more ramped up and like, 4 00:00:23,560 --> 00:00:25,320 yeah, it's, it's an exciting time of year. 5 00:00:25,680 --> 00:00:30,200 I, I remember as a teacher that like, yeah, you, you get to that 6 00:00:30,200 --> 00:00:34,800 last like 3-4 weeks and then it just feels different all the 7 00:00:34,800 --> 00:00:36,360 time in the school and out of the school. 8 00:00:36,360 --> 00:00:37,720 You can see it on the kids faces. 9 00:00:37,720 --> 00:00:40,440 Like I love this time of year. Yeah, pool was open this 10 00:00:40,440 --> 00:00:43,960 weekend. Yeah, I guess, Well, that's more 11 00:00:43,960 --> 00:00:45,200 of an appeal for me than you, I guess. 12 00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:48,680 You probably don't just go like chill at the pool. 13 00:00:50,160 --> 00:00:52,840 I mean if, if I. Like a weird middle-aged man in 14 00:00:52,840 --> 00:00:54,520 his 40s just chilling at the pool. 15 00:00:54,520 --> 00:00:56,560 Like that's, that's not what you do without kids. 16 00:00:56,600 --> 00:00:58,560 I don't, yeah. I don't think I could go to the 17 00:00:58,560 --> 00:01:02,600 pool by myself anymore because like, dude, what are you doing 18 00:01:02,720 --> 00:01:06,960 here? Like why are you here? 19 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:10,280 Yeah, You know, I just, I, well, because here's the thing. 20 00:01:10,320 --> 00:01:12,280 Oh my gosh. Here's the thing. 21 00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:15,080 Like if I go, if I go to the pool and they're like, Pastor 22 00:01:15,080 --> 00:01:17,080 Chris, what are you doing here? I was like, well, you know, I'm 23 00:01:17,080 --> 00:01:20,600 just coming to see kids. Like that sounds really bad. 24 00:01:20,600 --> 00:01:22,440 That's yeah. No, man, not. 25 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:24,520 Knowing who you are. Pastor Chris, like, you go to 26 00:01:24,520 --> 00:01:27,680 see kids at, you know, a local coffee shop or, you know, you 27 00:01:27,680 --> 00:01:29,760 see them on Wednesday. Like, you don't go to the pool 28 00:01:29,760 --> 00:01:32,440 to go see kids by yourself. That's really terrible. 29 00:01:32,760 --> 00:01:34,840 Don't do that. So yeah, I don't go to the pool 30 00:01:34,840 --> 00:01:37,040 anymore. OK, that's fair. 31 00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:39,920 We we hit it up this weekend, Saturday and Sunday afternoon. 32 00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:42,120 And that's that's good. We actually have Yeah. 33 00:01:42,160 --> 00:01:44,520 I mean, there's there's kids from youth group, kids from 34 00:01:44,520 --> 00:01:45,640 church that are working there now. 35 00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:48,200 It's lifeguards too. And it's, yeah, it's good. 36 00:01:48,240 --> 00:01:50,600 We let the kids go and they, the lifeguards, can watch them. 37 00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:52,560 Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah. 38 00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:56,400 So anyway, this is the ERC Leftovers podcast. 39 00:01:56,400 --> 00:02:01,520 Pastor Matt, Pastor Chris here, and we just kind of recap, go 40 00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:06,320 over yesterday's sermon and things that we just couldn't get 41 00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:08,919 to as we're working through the series of Acts. 42 00:02:08,919 --> 00:02:12,280 Anything that's leftover, thoughts from the narrative, the 43 00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:15,640 book of Acts, and Luke's account of the early church. 44 00:02:16,040 --> 00:02:18,960 We try to have a little fun and brevity along the way too. 45 00:02:18,960 --> 00:02:21,560 But yeah, thanks for coming along. 46 00:02:21,560 --> 00:02:25,400 Coming back for more conversation surrounding the 47 00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:27,320 sermon series that we're working through right now. 48 00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:31,520 Anything like we could just jump right into? 49 00:02:31,600 --> 00:02:35,520 Would you rather we try to have a little fun before look at the 50 00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:38,440 text some more? Yeah, yeah, I, we mentioned it 51 00:02:38,440 --> 00:02:41,480 last week, but man, all the grad parties, so much fun. 52 00:02:41,480 --> 00:02:44,000 I just, I, I just want to say it again because I love being 53 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:46,560 invited to them and, and I just think they're so much fun. 54 00:02:46,640 --> 00:02:50,720 And so thank you to all of the seniors and their parents over 55 00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:54,680 the last, you know, month or so. Who, yeah, they're, they're 56 00:02:54,680 --> 00:02:58,960 excited and about what's next. And man, I think again, we get 57 00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:02,480 to be so excited for these young people because if you, if 58 00:03:02,480 --> 00:03:05,480 anybody listening, you can remember back to how that felt 59 00:03:05,480 --> 00:03:09,560 of like, I'm an adult now. And you, you can just see that 60 00:03:09,560 --> 00:03:11,520 on their faces. And it's so cool for them and so 61 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:13,160 exciting. And I love seeing it. 62 00:03:13,440 --> 00:03:17,840 And I think you put it this way, which I, it's so true, whether 63 00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:20,520 you're super involved, like because you volunteer on 64 00:03:20,520 --> 00:03:23,720 Wednesdays or whatever. Like it's so neat to watch kids 65 00:03:23,720 --> 00:03:26,960 that you've seen grow up in the church and now they're going out 66 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:30,800 into the world. And you know that because of 67 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:33,760 what they know and have experienced inside their local 68 00:03:33,760 --> 00:03:36,560 church community and what they know about the gospel, that 69 00:03:36,560 --> 00:03:40,040 they're going to make a really great impact on the world that 70 00:03:40,040 --> 00:03:42,440 they go and live in. Yeah, it's very fun. 71 00:03:42,440 --> 00:03:45,640 Cool times for the students and their families and really just 72 00:03:45,640 --> 00:03:49,600 yeah, for church family to be able to celebrate these young 73 00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:52,880 adults going out into the world and having been raised up, Yeah, 74 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:58,640 it's pretty darn cool. So yeah, what was I going to get 75 00:03:58,680 --> 00:03:59,440 to? Would you rather would? 76 00:03:59,440 --> 00:04:01,000 You rather let's do it. Let's talk. 77 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:03,360 About this, would you rather? I feel like I had a fleeting 78 00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:05,720 thought as you were talking and now. 79 00:04:05,720 --> 00:04:08,000 Apparently it's fleeted. It fleeted. 80 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:10,120 Is that a is fled, fleeted, fled. 81 00:04:10,120 --> 00:04:13,320 Happens to a fleeting thought It fleets. 82 00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:16,920 Is that like eating? Oh. 83 00:04:18,279 --> 00:04:22,240 Gosh, all right, you know what? Let's be honest, I am way too 84 00:04:22,240 --> 00:04:26,120 old to pick up on young people's catch phrases unless I'm doing 85 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:29,880 it just to be terrible. Nope, I can't do it. 86 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:30,400 Doesn't. Work. 87 00:04:31,160 --> 00:04:34,200 Just like I can't do a British accent, I can't do that either. 88 00:04:34,480 --> 00:04:36,560 Oh, I was going to say that's what it was. 89 00:04:37,080 --> 00:04:39,600 Worship night this Friday in the sanctuary. 90 00:04:39,600 --> 00:04:43,320 School years out, summers here can start this new season off 91 00:04:43,400 --> 00:04:44,720 right. We're going to be in the 92 00:04:44,720 --> 00:04:48,320 sanctuary from 6:00 to 8:00 this Friday. 93 00:04:48,800 --> 00:04:50,720 Come on out. And we, yeah, we want you to 94 00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:56,240 come and start this summer season off well, fellowship and 95 00:04:56,640 --> 00:04:59,600 worship with the people of God here this Friday in the 96 00:04:59,600 --> 00:05:01,600 sanctuary at church, 6:00 to 8:00 PM. 97 00:05:01,960 --> 00:05:04,320 Love that and this is the first one I'll ever. 98 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:07,200 That's the first time I'll I'm ever able to attend. 99 00:05:07,200 --> 00:05:09,560 I've always been out of town. Yeah, we've somehow scheduled it 100 00:05:09,560 --> 00:05:12,000 when you're gone, so. It's almost like you did it on 101 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:15,240 purpose, Sir. Like I'm gonna, like, I'm gonna 102 00:05:15,240 --> 00:05:18,480 embarrass you on worship night because you know, I'll, I'll 103 00:05:18,480 --> 00:05:20,360 sing terribly. And no, I'm kidding. 104 00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:23,200 I mean, I do sing terribly, but it's, you know. 105 00:05:23,360 --> 00:05:25,640 Just oddly worked out that way somehow, right? 106 00:05:26,600 --> 00:05:30,040 This week's Would You rather? Would you rather your shirts 107 00:05:30,040 --> 00:05:34,120 always be two sizes too big or one size too small? 108 00:05:34,120 --> 00:05:36,960 Oh. No, no, no, Sir. 109 00:05:37,960 --> 00:05:39,920 OK. OK. 110 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:44,960 OK, let me let me let me try and get us kick started here. 111 00:05:46,040 --> 00:05:52,520 OK, so I came in to the church today and I, I had told Matt a 112 00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:56,680 story about like, hey, man, like yesterday was not great for me. 113 00:05:56,720 --> 00:06:00,320 Like stepped on the scale and I'm literally the heaviest I've 114 00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:03,800 ever been in my entire life. And so now as you ask that 115 00:06:03,800 --> 00:06:08,080 ridiculous question, I'm like, well, I could use some baggy in 116 00:06:08,080 --> 00:06:12,440 my life. But then again, then again, if I 117 00:06:12,520 --> 00:06:16,280 was jacked I would be like, give me the smaller shirt. 118 00:06:17,240 --> 00:06:20,880 OK. So this is regardless of weight, 119 00:06:20,880 --> 00:06:25,920 this is just kind of like physique kind of the question 120 00:06:25,920 --> 00:06:27,160 because. Kind of. 121 00:06:28,320 --> 00:06:31,080 OK, so we, we've talked about this because you're, you're now 122 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:36,240 on the on the weight loss train or you, you just want to drop 123 00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:38,320 some pounds here. Dude I need to otherwise I have 124 00:06:38,320 --> 00:06:40,160 to buy new pants. Yeah. 125 00:06:40,160 --> 00:06:44,080 And I so I've I've dropped quite a bit in the past couple months 126 00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:44,880 here. And what are you? 127 00:06:44,880 --> 00:06:46,960 What are you up to right now? Or what are you down to actually 128 00:06:47,160 --> 00:06:48,360 like? How much weight have you lost? 129 00:06:48,360 --> 00:06:51,800 I've dropped about £35. That's remarkable. 130 00:06:51,800 --> 00:06:55,360 So yeah, but I was at the same point you were back in March. 131 00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:58,440 I was just like, hey, this is came back from Florida, came 132 00:06:58,440 --> 00:07:00,920 back from exponential. And I was like, this is the most 133 00:07:00,920 --> 00:07:04,760 I've ever weighed in my life. I'm done with this and it's been 134 00:07:04,760 --> 00:07:05,600 great. I feel good. 135 00:07:05,600 --> 00:07:10,840 But yesterday I usually go somewhere, I don't know, I wear, 136 00:07:11,720 --> 00:07:13,520 I guess I don't have a Sunday morning outfit really. 137 00:07:13,520 --> 00:07:15,760 I'll wear pretty much anything. I have some, some button up, 138 00:07:15,760 --> 00:07:18,480 some sweatshirts, some T-shirts. I was wearing a button up 139 00:07:18,480 --> 00:07:22,200 yesterday and it's still like I've worn a size large T-shirt 140 00:07:22,200 --> 00:07:24,200 for as long as I can remember it. 141 00:07:24,200 --> 00:07:26,800 Even when I was gaining weight, I just kind of just still 142 00:07:26,800 --> 00:07:28,720 squeezed into the little size large T-shirt. 143 00:07:28,720 --> 00:07:33,720 And now I was, I had this size large button up yesterday and I 144 00:07:33,720 --> 00:07:36,440 didn't even really realize it till like I got home and looked 145 00:07:36,440 --> 00:07:39,760 in the mirror and I was like, wow, this this shirt is wearing 146 00:07:39,760 --> 00:07:44,000 me like I, I was, I I felt like it looked super bag and weird. 147 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:47,360 So I didn't love that look either that it felt like, oh, 148 00:07:47,360 --> 00:07:51,760 this, this shirt is way too big for where I'm at right now. 149 00:07:52,360 --> 00:07:57,080 So now you wear a SH medium I. I'm awkwardly in between, like a 150 00:07:57,080 --> 00:08:00,520 medium would be way too tight, but also like this. 151 00:08:00,880 --> 00:08:02,960 This is a large T-shirt. That's fine. 152 00:08:02,960 --> 00:08:06,000 I mean, you can't. That's fine all of you watching 153 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:09,000 our non video podcast, you can't see the T-shirt that I'm 154 00:08:09,160 --> 00:08:11,440 wearing. But yeah, so I feel I don't 155 00:08:11,440 --> 00:08:13,200 know, maybe that shirt was just sized weird. 156 00:08:13,280 --> 00:08:16,760 I didn't like the baggy look. It was. 157 00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:18,080 It didn't even feel baggy actually. 158 00:08:18,080 --> 00:08:19,480 It was just when I looked at myself, I. 159 00:08:19,480 --> 00:08:21,960 Was like no but. That shirt looks way too baggy. 160 00:08:22,040 --> 00:08:25,040 I noticed yesterday because I don't know, I just noticed 161 00:08:25,040 --> 00:08:27,080 things like that. I was like, oh man, that shirt 162 00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:29,720 like that's looser than what he would normally wear. 163 00:08:30,160 --> 00:08:34,480 I noticed it. So yeah, I didn't, I didn't love 164 00:08:34,480 --> 00:08:39,640 that once I figured it out, but oh, but like one size too small, 165 00:08:39,720 --> 00:08:43,720 like that's what I'm saying. Yeah, a medium right now like 166 00:08:43,720 --> 00:08:49,440 that would be oof. You're that's that's skin tight. 167 00:08:49,440 --> 00:08:52,440 There's no, there's no hiding anything with that like. 168 00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:56,480 You're. Can you do anything 169 00:08:56,480 --> 00:08:58,360 stylistically with a baggy shirt? 170 00:08:58,360 --> 00:09:00,640 Can you like? Oh, what? 171 00:09:00,720 --> 00:09:03,960 What are you going to tie it off in the back with like a hair 172 00:09:03,960 --> 00:09:05,040 tie? What are we doing here? 173 00:09:05,040 --> 00:09:06,680 That would be weird too. That would be terrible. 174 00:09:06,680 --> 00:09:13,880 Don't do that. 2 sizes too big though. 2 sizes is a lot man. 175 00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:16,960 That's a lot. Yeah, and it's like cute when 176 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:19,800 kids wear it cause like, whatever the little, my little 177 00:09:19,800 --> 00:09:22,720 girls, they're weird. I get one of Clara's shirts and 178 00:09:22,720 --> 00:09:24,520 it's more like a dress and it's down to their knees. 179 00:09:24,520 --> 00:09:27,800 Like that's that's fine. I can't wear shirts halfway down 180 00:09:27,800 --> 00:09:28,640 my thighs. That's. 181 00:09:30,880 --> 00:09:32,680 Ridiculous, right? Like. 182 00:09:33,160 --> 00:09:34,920 But then again, the alternative is. 183 00:09:35,040 --> 00:09:37,600 Down here. The alternative is, of course. 184 00:09:38,040 --> 00:09:42,520 Yeah, there's no secrets anymore, like and. 185 00:09:42,520 --> 00:09:45,080 And here's the thing. And are you showing some mid 186 00:09:45,080 --> 00:09:48,160 like too a size too small? Is is mid drift coming out? 187 00:09:48,200 --> 00:09:49,440 It's. Probably you. 188 00:09:49,480 --> 00:09:50,920 Definitely don't want to see that. 189 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:54,120 If it's a size too small, it's probably hanging out right at 190 00:09:54,120 --> 00:09:56,560 the top of your pants. That's where the shirt ends. 191 00:09:56,560 --> 00:09:58,360 It's right at the. So every time you bend over, 192 00:09:58,360 --> 00:10:00,160 every time you lift your arms like. 193 00:10:00,160 --> 00:10:01,760 You're not bending over. No. 194 00:10:02,200 --> 00:10:04,800 And if you lift your arms, like let's say for example, you're 195 00:10:04,800 --> 00:10:07,960 giving the closing blessing, so you lift your arms and oh, we 196 00:10:07,960 --> 00:10:09,320 all just saw Matt's belly button. 197 00:10:09,320 --> 00:10:12,240 That's awesome. Like, I don't know man. 198 00:10:14,040 --> 00:10:16,280 You twist the wrong way. You just tear right through the 199 00:10:16,280 --> 00:10:17,360 shirt. That's too small. 200 00:10:17,360 --> 00:10:20,040 I don't know if you you burst. Through it, I just think of 201 00:10:20,040 --> 00:10:24,120 like, you know, Chris Farley in I don't know what, I can't 202 00:10:24,120 --> 00:10:26,880 remember the name of the movie. Tommy Boy Tommy Boy Fat guy in a 203 00:10:26,880 --> 00:10:29,160 little coat in. A little coat, yeah. 204 00:10:29,800 --> 00:10:33,360 I I think I got to go too big. Like I'll feel silly but 205 00:10:33,440 --> 00:10:35,880 whatever man, I'm not. I'm not showing you my belly 206 00:10:35,880 --> 00:10:38,480 button every time I lift my arms or something. 207 00:10:38,560 --> 00:10:39,960 I'm not. That's the answer to it's 208 00:10:40,040 --> 00:10:45,120 probably, yeah, more, more mystery and ridiculousness than 209 00:10:45,120 --> 00:10:47,920 just everything. And maybe you just lean into it 210 00:10:47,920 --> 00:10:50,400 and you're like, you know, you know what, Like, I really like 211 00:10:50,480 --> 00:10:53,600 gangster rap of the 90s, and I'm going to wear everything really 212 00:10:53,600 --> 00:10:56,920 baggy. You get like clown shoes too, 213 00:10:56,920 --> 00:10:59,280 just like you're. Just walking around like Ronald 214 00:10:59,280 --> 00:11:01,720 McDonald. Everything is ridiculously sized 215 00:11:01,720 --> 00:11:04,120 on your person, Yeah. I got to. 216 00:11:04,120 --> 00:11:05,280 Go too big? No, I think. 217 00:11:05,280 --> 00:11:07,080 I think the answer is 2 sizes too big. 218 00:11:07,080 --> 00:11:10,920 It would look ridiculous, but not as ridiculous as I would 219 00:11:11,160 --> 00:11:12,960 feel. I would feel so much more 220 00:11:12,960 --> 00:11:15,360 self-conscious in me too the tight one. 221 00:11:15,360 --> 00:11:18,040 Me too. I think I would know and feel at 222 00:11:18,040 --> 00:11:19,800 all times that I looked ridiculous. 223 00:11:19,800 --> 00:11:24,800 The the two sides is too big. I'd be like, yeah, I don't know. 224 00:11:25,280 --> 00:11:28,640 Well, and I think this small one too, if people didn't know you 225 00:11:28,640 --> 00:11:32,080 had to do this, they're like, Oh my gosh, look at this. 226 00:11:32,080 --> 00:11:34,680 Someone needs to tell that guy. Yeah, look at this conceited 227 00:11:34,680 --> 00:11:37,040 dude. Like he thinks he's ripped and 228 00:11:37,040 --> 00:11:39,520 he's trying to wear this tiny shirt to show it off, and he's 229 00:11:39,520 --> 00:11:41,040 not. He's not. 230 00:11:41,360 --> 00:11:42,880 Let me go see if we can find you a tighter shirt. 231 00:11:42,880 --> 00:11:47,920 Tighter shirt. That's the line for the second. 232 00:11:47,920 --> 00:11:49,640 Transformer. Oh, I'm gone. 233 00:11:50,240 --> 00:11:52,200 Shia Labeoust getting in trouble and he's like, oh, I'm going to 234 00:11:52,200 --> 00:11:53,960 go find you a tighter shirt. There isn't one. 235 00:11:53,960 --> 00:11:56,400 We already checked. All right. 236 00:11:57,480 --> 00:11:59,800 So dumb. Really terrible movie reference. 237 00:11:59,800 --> 00:12:02,520 Sorry for any of you that watched the second Michael Bay 238 00:12:02,520 --> 00:12:03,800 Transformers movie. Wow. 239 00:12:04,440 --> 00:12:08,840 Yeah. Anyway, OK, so you were in 240 00:12:08,960 --> 00:12:12,720 really happy passage of Acts yesterday, right? 241 00:12:13,080 --> 00:12:17,160 You ended with the the villain or you started with the villain 242 00:12:17,160 --> 00:12:19,840 winning, right? That the that the bad guy wins 243 00:12:20,280 --> 00:12:22,080 and. That's terrible. 244 00:12:22,720 --> 00:12:25,080 It's awful. I mean, again, when I gave that 245 00:12:25,080 --> 00:12:28,920 kind of movie reference, like that was real for me and 246 00:12:28,920 --> 00:12:31,600 everybody in that theater and apparently across the country, 247 00:12:31,600 --> 00:12:34,760 like, dude, you don't. You don't go to things like 248 00:12:34,760 --> 00:12:37,600 movies and be like, Yep, they broke up at the end of the 249 00:12:37,600 --> 00:12:38,960 movie. They never talked to each other 250 00:12:38,960 --> 00:12:40,200 again. The bad guy wins. 251 00:12:40,200 --> 00:12:42,800 The killer doesn't get caught. You they don't really make 252 00:12:42,800 --> 00:12:44,760 movies like that. Not really. 253 00:12:45,240 --> 00:12:49,080 So when you see that happen in real life, I mean, imagine like, 254 00:12:49,120 --> 00:12:52,840 of course, you know, bad things do happen. 255 00:12:52,840 --> 00:12:55,840 And you know, you can see that all throughout the Bible. 256 00:12:55,840 --> 00:12:58,520 It's very real about that in life. 257 00:12:59,160 --> 00:13:03,280 But when you come to a passage like this, and again, it's just 258 00:13:03,280 --> 00:13:07,040 a really clear stopping point, especially from a preaching 259 00:13:07,040 --> 00:13:10,360 perspective, you're like, oh, wow, this. 260 00:13:10,640 --> 00:13:15,600 I can't imagine living in this era of like, hey, we got this 261 00:13:15,600 --> 00:13:18,080 church started and it's great and everybody's happy and people 262 00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:20,120 are being saved. And then all of a sudden, like 263 00:13:20,120 --> 00:13:24,240 boom, like now we're scattered and people are dying. 264 00:13:24,760 --> 00:13:28,680 We're dying now because this group of people or this 265 00:13:28,680 --> 00:13:32,360 individual in in particular is, is angry with us and doesn't 266 00:13:32,360 --> 00:13:34,320 like our theology. We're dying now. 267 00:13:34,840 --> 00:13:36,280 I think I'm going to get out of town. 268 00:13:36,480 --> 00:13:42,080 Yeah, yeah. And that was wildly scary or 269 00:13:42,080 --> 00:13:43,880 just like reality setting in, right? 270 00:13:43,880 --> 00:13:47,000 Like, oh, this is actually what this life is about. 271 00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:51,920 And and yeah, the the intimidation, the persecution, 272 00:13:51,920 --> 00:13:57,240 the, the, the gravity of what taking up your cross daily looks 273 00:13:57,240 --> 00:14:00,960 like, of what committing to following Jesus looks like or, 274 00:14:00,960 --> 00:14:04,480 or the ultimate cost that that it cost a Christian. 275 00:14:04,480 --> 00:14:09,720 Obviously they were aware of what it cost Jesus, but that's 276 00:14:09,720 --> 00:14:14,960 when faced with that, and that's an interesting examination for 277 00:14:14,960 --> 00:14:19,080 yourself. Like what point is your faith 278 00:14:19,080 --> 00:14:24,960 that real is, is your faith that important, resolute, strong? 279 00:14:24,960 --> 00:14:28,440 Like if you were threatened with this, if your life was at stake, 280 00:14:29,880 --> 00:14:33,000 how? And I think that's kind of the 281 00:14:33,040 --> 00:14:36,320 ultimate proving grounds that modern that the majority, not 282 00:14:36,320 --> 00:14:39,800 all of course, but the majority of modern day people never have 283 00:14:39,800 --> 00:14:41,520 to do that. They never have to go. 284 00:14:41,520 --> 00:14:46,360 OK, is this so real for me that like, you know what, when I'm 285 00:14:46,360 --> 00:14:49,920 pressed, I'm going to hold to it no matter what the cost is. 286 00:14:50,240 --> 00:14:52,440 Again, most modern day people don't have to deal with that. 287 00:14:52,440 --> 00:14:54,720 We certainly do have not in. Relation to like life 288 00:14:54,720 --> 00:14:57,840 threatening. Right, right now there's social 289 00:14:57,840 --> 00:15:02,560 capital that Americans stand to lose if you profess your faith 290 00:15:02,560 --> 00:15:05,880 and you say, no, this is I refuse to work on this day 291 00:15:05,880 --> 00:15:08,520 because this is my Sabbath. This is the day when I worship, 292 00:15:08,840 --> 00:15:10,720 I refuse. You know, you can lose social 293 00:15:10,720 --> 00:15:14,040 capital, you can lose potentially income, etcetera, 294 00:15:14,040 --> 00:15:15,600 etcetera. But it's you. 295 00:15:15,680 --> 00:15:18,640 I mean, in in America, it's not currently at the cost of your 296 00:15:18,640 --> 00:15:21,280 life to say this is who I am. Right. 297 00:15:21,560 --> 00:15:23,160 Yeah. And that's what's what we 298 00:15:23,160 --> 00:15:25,520 ultimately see it in the in the killing of Stephen. 299 00:15:25,520 --> 00:15:30,760 And yeah, feels like a dark time for the church. 300 00:15:30,840 --> 00:15:32,640 And yet. Right. 301 00:15:32,640 --> 00:15:37,200 And yet, amidst persecution, amidst amidst this threat, 302 00:15:37,840 --> 00:15:41,760 there's still growth. They're both in in maturity and 303 00:15:41,760 --> 00:15:44,960 number like that's that's still resulted in and we haven't even 304 00:15:44,960 --> 00:15:47,400 gotten to the big we haven't even gotten to the punchline. 305 00:15:47,400 --> 00:15:49,960 The villains still out there, right, like Saul is still 306 00:15:50,480 --> 00:15:54,080 persecuting and and hunting down Christians and things. 307 00:15:54,080 --> 00:15:58,640 We haven't even gotten to his transformation yet in the book 308 00:15:58,640 --> 00:16:01,760 of Acts. So there's still a lot more to 309 00:16:01,760 --> 00:16:04,440 come. I want to jump back a couple 310 00:16:04,440 --> 00:16:06,040 chapters. Just we we maybe should have. 311 00:16:06,040 --> 00:16:07,800 Covered. Yeah, we had to, we kind of had 312 00:16:07,800 --> 00:16:12,360 to make what I would call it like a sizable jump to get to 313 00:16:12,360 --> 00:16:15,480 Saul yesterday. So yeah, it it'll be good to 314 00:16:15,480 --> 00:16:18,080 maybe recap some of those other things we missed. 315 00:16:18,240 --> 00:16:22,720 Yeah, back in chapter 4, I'm going to start at verse 32. 316 00:16:23,080 --> 00:16:25,320 All the believers were in one heart and mind. 317 00:16:25,320 --> 00:16:28,040 No one claimed that any of their possessions were their own, but 318 00:16:28,040 --> 00:16:30,280 they shared everything they had with great power. 319 00:16:30,280 --> 00:16:32,560 The apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of 320 00:16:32,560 --> 00:16:35,440 the Lord Jesus, and God's grace was so powerfully at work in 321 00:16:35,440 --> 00:16:38,040 them all that there were no needy persons among them. 322 00:16:38,360 --> 00:16:40,760 From time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, 323 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:43,280 brought the money from the sales and put at the apostles feet, 324 00:16:43,280 --> 00:16:45,760 and it was distributed to anyone who had need. 325 00:16:46,520 --> 00:16:50,080 Joseph a Levite from Cyprus whom the apostles called Barnabas. 326 00:16:50,640 --> 00:16:53,840 Barnabas wow that was difficult. Whom the apostles called 327 00:16:53,840 --> 00:16:57,720 Barnabas, which means son of encouragement, sold a field he 328 00:16:57,720 --> 00:17:01,000 owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles feet. 329 00:17:01,440 --> 00:17:04,280 There's an interesting interaction here later on. 330 00:17:05,520 --> 00:17:09,920 Barnabas is a companion of of Saul, then Paul in in some of 331 00:17:09,920 --> 00:17:14,400 his journeys and even in the books of Galatians and 332 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:18,680 Ephesians. I think there's references to 333 00:17:18,680 --> 00:17:25,200 Barnabas travels with Paul We so we just we kind of get a really 334 00:17:25,200 --> 00:17:28,520 brief intro to him here. But but Barnabas, son of 335 00:17:28,520 --> 00:17:31,760 encouragement. This was a guy who had a way 336 00:17:31,760 --> 00:17:38,600 with words was was cheering on uplifting actions and and people 337 00:17:38,600 --> 00:17:43,080 and believers that so much so that that's the nickname they 338 00:17:43,080 --> 00:17:47,640 gave him that he was just this this encourager alongside them. 339 00:17:48,360 --> 00:17:53,280 His example is in here for how this how this worked of this 340 00:17:53,280 --> 00:17:56,800 sharing of possessions and and being of 1 heart and one mind. 341 00:17:56,800 --> 00:17:59,640 Sold the field he owned and brought the money and put it at 342 00:17:59,640 --> 00:18:02,400 the apostles feet. This might seem like a radically 343 00:18:02,880 --> 00:18:06,160 crazy thing. Like anyone who had land or 344 00:18:06,240 --> 00:18:09,840 houses sold them and gave to those who are in need so that 345 00:18:09,840 --> 00:18:14,120 there was no one in need. Well, this sounds like that 346 00:18:14,120 --> 00:18:16,840 sounds like communism, right? Like this almost just just 347 00:18:16,840 --> 00:18:19,280 sounds like those who had gave away what they had. 348 00:18:19,280 --> 00:18:21,440 So those who didn't have would have stuff, right? 349 00:18:21,520 --> 00:18:25,280 And that's not, that's not what's happening here. 350 00:18:25,280 --> 00:18:27,120 There. There is an example of 351 00:18:27,400 --> 00:18:31,000 generosity here later on, especially in first Timothy. 352 00:18:31,160 --> 00:18:35,160 We see from Paul first Timothy chapter 5, we see some 353 00:18:35,160 --> 00:18:38,560 guidelines for this because of course, still dealing with 354 00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:45,360 sinful broken people here. There's a chance for this sort 355 00:18:45,360 --> 00:18:49,160 of model to be abused and and people who weren't actually 356 00:18:49,160 --> 00:18:52,720 needy or in need like gaining some of this. 357 00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:57,360 So the church must discern who the truly needy are. 358 00:18:57,400 --> 00:19:01,200 Paul teaches in first Timothy 5. If one can work to support 359 00:19:01,320 --> 00:19:04,480 themselves, they weren't they're not in this needy category. 360 00:19:04,480 --> 00:19:08,440 They should be in the providing for others needs category. 361 00:19:09,480 --> 00:19:12,920 If a family can support a needy person, the church, the church 362 00:19:12,920 --> 00:19:16,480 isn't then supporting that family amongst them if they if 363 00:19:16,480 --> 00:19:18,760 they're self-sufficient in themselves. 364 00:19:19,400 --> 00:19:23,160 And it's also right for the church to examine moral conduct 365 00:19:23,160 --> 00:19:30,600 before giving support. This isn't just giving all hold 366 00:19:30,600 --> 00:19:32,840 all holds barred. Just like because someone has a 367 00:19:32,840 --> 00:19:36,400 need, regardless of of moral or ethic consequence. 368 00:19:36,400 --> 00:19:40,040 There there needed to be some showing of no, this this person, 369 00:19:40,040 --> 00:19:46,800 this family is bought into this faith is is earnestly has left 370 00:19:47,080 --> 00:19:49,680 sin habits behind or or or detrimental things. 371 00:19:49,680 --> 00:19:54,520 It's like kind of a well, no, that's not the example I want to 372 00:19:54,520 --> 00:19:57,680 give. But yeah, there needed to be 373 00:19:57,680 --> 00:20:01,560 some show. Let me show you my faith by my 374 00:20:01,560 --> 00:20:03,520 works. James writes like there needed 375 00:20:03,520 --> 00:20:08,080 to be some outward show of bought in it Ness to this 376 00:20:08,080 --> 00:20:10,920 community in their lives. It wasn't just. 377 00:20:11,360 --> 00:20:14,480 Hey, they're not going to turn their lives around, but we're 378 00:20:14,520 --> 00:20:18,400 we're still just going to aimlessly, not aimlessly. 379 00:20:18,520 --> 00:20:19,880 Oh man, I'm really struggling with words. 380 00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:22,520 Not aimlessly, but like inconsequentially sure, we're 381 00:20:22,600 --> 00:20:25,320 we're going to put some of thought and care into this and 382 00:20:25,320 --> 00:20:28,160 how we're giving and how we're being generous. 383 00:20:28,160 --> 00:20:31,520 We aren't just wasting resource. And that's that's the other side 384 00:20:31,520 --> 00:20:33,960 of it. That maybe sounds crass to say 385 00:20:33,960 --> 00:20:38,360 that anyone who is in need not give or giving them something 386 00:20:38,360 --> 00:20:40,880 that they're not going to use. Maybe the best way they could is 387 00:20:40,880 --> 00:20:43,160 wasting. But that was what was facing the 388 00:20:43,160 --> 00:20:45,480 church at this time really. They wanted to be discerning of 389 00:20:45,480 --> 00:20:47,960 how they were using this resource they were trusted with. 390 00:20:48,160 --> 00:20:50,720 Absolutely. Well, a couple things coming off 391 00:20:50,720 --> 00:20:52,800 that and I, you're absolutely right. 392 00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:56,160 But one of the interesting things that we see, and I'm 393 00:20:56,160 --> 00:21:00,200 sorry, I'm blanking on who it is, but there was a 1st century 394 00:21:00,600 --> 00:21:07,120 non Jewish, non Christian person who looked at the amazing way 395 00:21:07,120 --> 00:21:10,880 that the church is generous. OK, so think about the world 396 00:21:10,880 --> 00:21:13,120 we're living in for a second. Let me try and paint that 397 00:21:13,120 --> 00:21:15,680 picture a little bit. We're living in a world where 398 00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:22,120 like, so for example, sexuality is all over the place and that's 399 00:21:22,120 --> 00:21:24,280 OK. So we like give our sexuality 400 00:21:24,280 --> 00:21:27,040 away to everybody or anything that we feel like it because our 401 00:21:27,040 --> 00:21:28,440 bodies, well, they're just our bodies. 402 00:21:28,440 --> 00:21:32,080 And I'm just kind of covering this need I have for this 403 00:21:32,080 --> 00:21:34,040 pleasure, right? So that's kind of a weird wide 404 00:21:34,040 --> 00:21:37,080 open thing. But at the same time, my money 405 00:21:37,080 --> 00:21:40,560 is mine. My resources are mine, period. 406 00:21:40,840 --> 00:21:43,240 So that's the kind of world we're living in where like, I 407 00:21:43,240 --> 00:21:46,960 don't give my money away. Why would I ever do that? 408 00:21:47,120 --> 00:21:50,200 But I'll give like this part of myself away and that's fine. 409 00:21:51,120 --> 00:21:54,000 So the Christian Church comes along and they do the exact 410 00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:56,400 opposite. They say, no, my sexuality is 411 00:21:56,400 --> 00:22:01,000 meant for one person that I'm committed to and nobody else but 412 00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:04,720 my money and my resources. I'm going to give that away like 413 00:22:04,720 --> 00:22:09,240 I'm dying tomorrow. And So what happens is there was 414 00:22:09,240 --> 00:22:12,240 at least one writer early on. And again, I'm sorry, I forget 415 00:22:12,240 --> 00:22:15,080 his name, but he kind of famously wrote about the fact 416 00:22:15,080 --> 00:22:19,200 like these Christians are so easy to take advantage of 417 00:22:19,480 --> 00:22:23,960 because people who have need, who who seem authentic, like 418 00:22:23,960 --> 00:22:26,600 these Christians will just give you what you need. 419 00:22:27,120 --> 00:22:30,480 And so like, yeah, there is the sense that that can be taken 420 00:22:30,480 --> 00:22:34,160 advantage of if if there isn't wisdom and discernment and how 421 00:22:34,160 --> 00:22:36,400 we do that. Additionally, I would tell you 422 00:22:36,400 --> 00:22:41,120 that the the church itself is meant to take care of the 423 00:22:41,120 --> 00:22:44,200 church. So I love churches, modern day 424 00:22:44,200 --> 00:22:47,000 churches that like hey, we have food pantries and anybody can 425 00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:49,280 come in who has need, etcetera, etcetera. 426 00:22:49,280 --> 00:22:51,320 I think those things are awesome. 427 00:22:51,440 --> 00:22:54,800 That's great. But at the same time it is the 428 00:22:54,800 --> 00:22:58,400 church's job is leader's job to discern. 429 00:22:58,720 --> 00:23:02,000 OK. We need to give first to the 430 00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:04,800 people who are in and amongst our community. 431 00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:09,360 That is our first priority when it comes to helping and giving. 432 00:23:09,760 --> 00:23:13,840 And so I, I, I think a lot of churches model that today. 433 00:23:13,840 --> 00:23:15,560 I know that's something that ERC does. 434 00:23:15,880 --> 00:23:18,160 You know, we have a help fund and that help fund is 435 00:23:18,160 --> 00:23:20,960 specifically for people in our community. 436 00:23:21,280 --> 00:23:24,800 Now our church also helps our community in other bigger, 437 00:23:24,800 --> 00:23:26,840 broader ways by giving to certain things. 438 00:23:26,840 --> 00:23:30,160 And that's awesome. I'm glad we do that, but really 439 00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:34,560 at the core of this is like we are helping those who are in our 440 00:23:34,560 --> 00:23:37,760 fellowship or in our community. That is our call. 441 00:23:37,760 --> 00:23:40,200 That is our job to do. Right. 442 00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:46,760 And that's we don't necessarily any any passerby who has a need 443 00:23:46,760 --> 00:23:50,280 who comes to our doors. That's not not necessarily 444 00:23:50,280 --> 00:23:53,320 within our our purview for for every situation. 445 00:23:53,320 --> 00:23:54,800 Not necessarily. Yeah, sometimes. 446 00:23:54,800 --> 00:23:58,480 Sometimes it is. Sometimes God places a 447 00:23:58,480 --> 00:24:02,920 circumstance that it it maybe seems very obviously that we can 448 00:24:02,920 --> 00:24:05,240 meet that need. And even though we don't we 449 00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:07,640 don't know this person, we don't have a background. 450 00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:13,880 It just it seems like our passes are wow paths have been brought 451 00:24:13,920 --> 00:24:16,120 to cross. Really shouldn't be recording a 452 00:24:16,120 --> 00:24:18,200 podcast. My mouth did not want to talk 453 00:24:18,200 --> 00:24:19,400 today. You're doing fine. 454 00:24:19,400 --> 00:24:23,080 It's going to be all right. That, yeah, that God brought 455 00:24:23,080 --> 00:24:27,760 this person to cross paths with us and this is how we can help 456 00:24:27,760 --> 00:24:30,720 and aid this part, this part of their life. 457 00:24:30,760 --> 00:24:33,360 Sure. But in general, like we're not, 458 00:24:33,800 --> 00:24:36,600 we're not necessarily running it. 459 00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:41,400 It, it is more of this early church model of those within our 460 00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:45,320 community who are, who have everything in common, who, who 461 00:24:45,400 --> 00:24:51,520 are of, of like mind and and like lifestyle and, and and and 462 00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:55,520 mind and faith together. That's what this camaraderie 463 00:24:55,520 --> 00:24:57,080 was. That's what this this coming 464 00:24:57,080 --> 00:25:00,200 together was. And I don't know if this is the 465 00:25:00,320 --> 00:25:06,360 I just did a quick Google search, but Mara bar Sarah 466 00:25:06,360 --> 00:25:10,080 Payan. I don't it was a early 1st 467 00:25:10,080 --> 00:25:15,440 century writer who who coined or told the the emperor that 468 00:25:15,440 --> 00:25:19,680 Christians were naively generous and and easy to take advantage. 469 00:25:19,800 --> 00:25:21,000 Of that might be the exact thing. 470 00:25:21,040 --> 00:25:22,640 Yep, I think that's what that is. 471 00:25:22,640 --> 00:25:25,880 Yep, thank you. Yeah, just just a letter letter 472 00:25:25,880 --> 00:25:32,440 to Diognetus is is the early 1st century writing and that's not 473 00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:37,760 again, I don't think Jesus is if we go to the pearly gates and I 474 00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:40,360 don't I don't think Jesus going to be up there like that guy 475 00:25:40,360 --> 00:25:42,680 took advantage of you like shouldn't shouldn't have given 476 00:25:42,680 --> 00:25:46,240 that away. He was he was scamming you like 477 00:25:46,240 --> 00:25:51,000 I'm I don't think that's going to happen. 478 00:25:51,120 --> 00:25:54,640 But there is especially in first Timothy chapter 5 like there's 479 00:25:54,640 --> 00:25:57,280 there's this call to discernment. 480 00:25:57,280 --> 00:26:02,160 There's very obviously Paul's listing out a method, a standard 481 00:26:02,240 --> 00:26:07,000 of because, because we have earthly resource and as, as it 482 00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:11,160 is limited as as maybe unlimited as it, as it might, there's a 483 00:26:11,160 --> 00:26:12,960 lot of money out there. There's a lot of money out 484 00:26:12,960 --> 00:26:15,560 there. It may feel unlimited in some 485 00:26:15,560 --> 00:26:16,880 way, but it's still a limited resource. 486 00:26:16,880 --> 00:26:20,480 Like we're still meant to be prudent and good stewards of it. 487 00:26:20,600 --> 00:26:24,880 And that's exactly it. So, you know, people, men, God 488 00:26:24,880 --> 00:26:30,320 fearing people give of their financial resources, you know, 489 00:26:30,400 --> 00:26:35,520 trusting that the leaders of your congregation will use that 490 00:26:35,520 --> 00:26:39,400 money wisely, Right, right. And so, yeah, you don't just 491 00:26:39,400 --> 00:26:41,000 want to throw it all over the place. 492 00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:43,440 We don't hold on tight to it with a tight fist. 493 00:26:43,720 --> 00:26:46,640 But at the same time, man, we have to exercise discernment and 494 00:26:46,640 --> 00:26:51,400 how we give those things away to people in real genuine need. 495 00:26:52,280 --> 00:26:55,560 So that way, those resources that people are entrusting to 496 00:26:55,600 --> 00:26:58,360 our care are going to the right place. 497 00:26:58,680 --> 00:27:04,160 Right because on the other side of this we have Joseph Barnabas 498 00:27:05,200 --> 00:27:07,080 sells this field gives all the proceeds. 499 00:27:07,080 --> 00:27:08,480 This is hey, this is for the church. 500 00:27:08,480 --> 00:27:11,000 This is going to this is going to help out the beginning of 501 00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:14,000 chapter 5. We have this story of Ananias 502 00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:19,000 and Sapphira that were apparently in cahoots together. 503 00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:23,600 They they they knew it. They sold part of possession and 504 00:27:23,600 --> 00:27:26,760 and brought a certain part of it and laid it at the apostles 505 00:27:26,760 --> 00:27:29,400 feet. Now, we don't have a whole lot 506 00:27:29,400 --> 00:27:33,520 of narrative other than that that this was maybe this was 507 00:27:33,520 --> 00:27:35,360 maybe the standard, that this was the practice. 508 00:27:35,360 --> 00:27:41,720 For some reason, it was only OK that you sold all of it with the 509 00:27:41,720 --> 00:27:45,000 understanding that you were giving all of it to the church. 510 00:27:45,040 --> 00:27:47,280 Like, I'm not. I don't know if you have insight 511 00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:49,400 or not on that. There's nothing in the text that 512 00:27:49,440 --> 00:27:52,000 tells us this was necessarily an all or nothing thing. 513 00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:56,800 Like I think it's a little strange if for whatever reason 514 00:27:57,760 --> 00:28:01,080 we maybe they needed, I don't know, extra money on the side. 515 00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:03,240 Maybe it, maybe it's the the spirit of it here. 516 00:28:03,240 --> 00:28:06,040 Like it's not like they sold it and needed to pay off some 517 00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:08,640 expense with part of it. I think it's just the 518 00:28:08,640 --> 00:28:11,120 selfishness here. Like they they sold off the 519 00:28:11,120 --> 00:28:13,960 field and was like, we're going to, we're going to say this was 520 00:28:14,480 --> 00:28:17,040 all of the proceeds that we got. But really we just need to keep 521 00:28:17,040 --> 00:28:20,160 this for a nest egg here. And that's, and that's exactly 522 00:28:20,160 --> 00:28:22,960 what you see coming out of the beginning of Acts Chapter 5 as 523 00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:27,280 you, and you kind of get the sense that like, hey, I want to 524 00:28:27,280 --> 00:28:31,480 be, I want to look generous, but I also want to hold something 525 00:28:31,480 --> 00:28:34,920 back for myself. And that's where it gets really 526 00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:38,080 kind of ugly here at the beginning of Chapter 5 is it's 527 00:28:38,080 --> 00:28:42,800 like, Hey, we sold this and we said we basically sold it for 528 00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:45,640 this much, but really it was a different amount, but we wanted 529 00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:49,280 to feel like we're a part of like these really awesome people 530 00:28:49,280 --> 00:28:52,080 who are so generous. And so it's like, what are you 531 00:28:52,080 --> 00:28:54,120 doing here? What are they doing here, for 532 00:28:54,120 --> 00:28:57,160 example? Well, as Peter would tell you, 533 00:28:57,200 --> 00:29:01,720 you what you think you can trick God, you think you can because 534 00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:05,520 he says in five four, while it remained unsold, did it not 535 00:29:05,520 --> 00:29:08,360 remain your own? And after it was sold, was it 536 00:29:08,360 --> 00:29:11,320 not at your disposal? Why is it that you have 537 00:29:11,320 --> 00:29:13,080 contrived this deed in your heart? 538 00:29:13,600 --> 00:29:16,520 You have not lied to man, but lied to God. 539 00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:20,240 And so there is just this very much of like God loves a 540 00:29:20,240 --> 00:29:22,360 cheerful giver. So why are we? 541 00:29:22,600 --> 00:29:24,880 Yeah, why are we trying to fake out God? 542 00:29:25,240 --> 00:29:27,400 It's not helpful. And that's, and that's the 543 00:29:27,400 --> 00:29:29,760 deeper issue here. It's not that they, it's not 544 00:29:29,760 --> 00:29:34,120 that they didn't give all of the proceeds to the the field, it's 545 00:29:34,120 --> 00:29:37,760 that they misappropriate. They, they said that they did. 546 00:29:37,880 --> 00:29:41,200 They said that this is all that we got from this and we gave it 547 00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:45,720 all they wanted the same sort of recognition or or like 548 00:29:45,720 --> 00:29:49,000 acknowledgement that they they were as benevolent as Barnabas 549 00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:51,400 was by giving all of their field. 550 00:29:51,680 --> 00:29:58,200 There's the Greek word in in verse 2 for kind of kept back 551 00:29:58,400 --> 00:30:02,000 part part of the proceeds nosfizumi. 552 00:30:02,520 --> 00:30:04,960 Oh yeah, that's. Been a while but it literally 553 00:30:04,960 --> 00:30:07,840 means to misappropriate. So really the issue here, they 554 00:30:07,840 --> 00:30:12,320 just, they lied that they, they said they were giving all of it 555 00:30:12,920 --> 00:30:15,080 and they kept back some from for themselves. 556 00:30:15,080 --> 00:30:18,760 It gives me the impression that if they had said, well, you know 557 00:30:18,760 --> 00:30:20,960 what? We, we sold our field, but you 558 00:30:20,960 --> 00:30:24,440 know what we got to, we got to pay for a new roof for our 559 00:30:24,440 --> 00:30:25,920 house. So we're, so we're keeping, 560 00:30:26,040 --> 00:30:27,560 we're keeping this part to pay for that. 561 00:30:27,560 --> 00:30:30,240 But we'll, we'll give you the 80% of what we sold. 562 00:30:31,200 --> 00:30:33,400 No issue here. I don't, I don't think 0 if they 563 00:30:33,400 --> 00:30:37,320 had just been upfront about that, they gave the illusion 564 00:30:37,320 --> 00:30:40,840 that they, they were being as sacrificial as Barnabas. 565 00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:44,320 They're right. Oh my goodness, we gave all of 566 00:30:44,640 --> 00:30:48,680 this field so generously. So generously look at how great 567 00:30:48,680 --> 00:30:50,720 we. Are and then they were caught in 568 00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:53,800 the lie and Peter confronted them right. 569 00:30:54,040 --> 00:31:00,200 Why has Satan filled your heart? And Ananias, hearing these 570 00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:03,920 words, fell down and breathed his last die is on the spot. 571 00:31:04,160 --> 00:31:06,520 Like what? Crazy. 572 00:31:07,600 --> 00:31:12,200 Crazy and of course, you know, people see this and and it says 573 00:31:12,280 --> 00:31:15,040 and great fear came upon all who heard it. 574 00:31:15,240 --> 00:31:20,000 Yeah, you think you, you lie to God and and you know, it's one 575 00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:22,960 of those things like sometimes people say something like, oh 576 00:31:22,960 --> 00:31:26,720 man, you know, God's going to strike me down with Thunder if I 577 00:31:26,760 --> 00:31:29,800 whatever. And it's like you joke about 578 00:31:29,800 --> 00:31:34,280 that, but God is the reason why you take every single breath. 579 00:31:34,680 --> 00:31:38,600 And so if he chooses, he can do that. 580 00:31:38,800 --> 00:31:41,800 So we ought to take that pretty seriously. 581 00:31:42,040 --> 00:31:43,800 Yep. And then the same thing. 582 00:31:43,800 --> 00:31:49,920 So the Ananias falls down dead. Sapphira was in on the scheme 583 00:31:49,920 --> 00:31:52,160 his his wife and Peter confronts her too. 584 00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:55,800 And verse 7, he gives her the number and said, this is this is 585 00:31:55,800 --> 00:31:57,880 how much you gave. That's how much you sold the 586 00:31:57,880 --> 00:31:59,920 field for. And she said, Yep, that's that's 587 00:31:59,920 --> 00:32:02,240 all of it. And he challenges her again. 588 00:32:02,240 --> 00:32:06,040 How is it that you have agreed together to test the spirit of 589 00:32:06,040 --> 00:32:09,520 the Lord like? If she would have just came out 590 00:32:09,520 --> 00:32:12,880 and said, Oh no, actually it was this much and we kept this much, 591 00:32:13,480 --> 00:32:16,520 totally different story. Right same thing he and he gave 592 00:32:16,520 --> 00:32:19,000 her a chance to answer truthfully. 593 00:32:19,320 --> 00:32:22,480 She didn't she too, verse 10 then immediately she fell down 594 00:32:22,480 --> 00:32:27,640 and breathed her last and and again the in verse 7, so great 595 00:32:27,640 --> 00:32:30,440 fear came upon all the church and all those who heard these 596 00:32:30,440 --> 00:32:34,520 things. Just the significance with which 597 00:32:35,960 --> 00:32:41,000 God values and had instilled in the early church this this sense 598 00:32:41,000 --> 00:32:46,400 of honesty, this sense of honestly stewardship and fiscal 599 00:32:46,400 --> 00:32:50,320 responsibility too. If this is what you said you're 600 00:32:50,320 --> 00:32:52,720 going to do, do it. Yeah. 601 00:32:53,240 --> 00:32:58,200 If if, if it's not, if it's not what works out OK, you can. 602 00:32:58,480 --> 00:33:02,520 Peter even gave her an an out to sit like OK, do you want to come 603 00:33:02,520 --> 00:33:06,360 clean and say you only gave We don't know what fraction of it 604 00:33:06,360 --> 00:33:09,600 was, but assumingly it was. They kept a smaller amount and 605 00:33:09,600 --> 00:33:12,880 still gave a lot. But do you want to come clean 606 00:33:12,880 --> 00:33:17,080 and say you OK, you in fact did only did give 3/4 And for 607 00:33:17,080 --> 00:33:19,600 whatever pride overwhelms her. No, no, no, no. 608 00:33:19,600 --> 00:33:21,760 We gave it. We gave it all we did. 609 00:33:21,760 --> 00:33:24,440 We're just as noble as as Barnabas was. 610 00:33:24,440 --> 00:33:27,400 And that's where that's where pride comes in and we just have 611 00:33:27,400 --> 00:33:31,600 this really severe fear evoking response to it. 612 00:33:31,600 --> 00:33:34,080 I don't think we see that a whole lot of people just 613 00:33:34,080 --> 00:33:37,800 dropping dead from this. Sort of well, but here's an 614 00:33:37,800 --> 00:33:40,000 interesting thing. So a lot of churches who are 615 00:33:40,040 --> 00:33:43,560 maybe trying to fund a big expensive project that is 616 00:33:43,560 --> 00:33:47,280 outside of the normal means of the church's yearly budget. 617 00:33:47,280 --> 00:33:51,760 For example, a lot of people in church leadership have moved 618 00:33:51,760 --> 00:33:54,960 away from pledging because here's the thing, you might say, 619 00:33:54,960 --> 00:33:59,160 hey, over the next year, I'm going to give $10,000 to 620 00:33:59,200 --> 00:34:01,480 whatever this thing is that we're trying to do. 621 00:34:01,880 --> 00:34:07,520 Well, gosh, you know, you, maybe you only give like 5 or 6 and 622 00:34:07,520 --> 00:34:12,440 all of a sudden it's like you broke your word to your church 623 00:34:12,440 --> 00:34:16,120 community. And The thing is like, we, we 624 00:34:16,120 --> 00:34:19,239 have counted on that because you, we took you at your word 625 00:34:19,239 --> 00:34:22,159 and you're going to do that. And then you know, whether it 626 00:34:22,159 --> 00:34:26,679 was like here where it's like, hey, man, I'm just trying to 627 00:34:26,679 --> 00:34:29,639 scam the church, I'm skimming that Greek word, I'm skimming 628 00:34:29,639 --> 00:34:32,840 off the top, or, or whether it's like, oh, no, actually I lost my 629 00:34:32,840 --> 00:34:35,760 job. Well, of course, of course. 630 00:34:36,360 --> 00:34:39,560 But that's why a lot of churches have moved away from pledging 631 00:34:39,560 --> 00:34:43,080 for projects like that because they're like, no, you either 632 00:34:43,199 --> 00:34:48,360 give it and give it freely and give it now, or like, let's not 633 00:34:48,360 --> 00:34:53,360 assume a future generosity here. Let's just, you know, it 634 00:34:53,360 --> 00:34:58,640 actually makes me think of like, hey, God told the Israelites, 635 00:34:58,840 --> 00:35:01,520 just gather enough for today, just today. 636 00:35:02,120 --> 00:35:04,800 I don't need you to store up and build and try and guarantee 637 00:35:04,800 --> 00:35:07,320 something for yourself later. Like I'm going to provide for 638 00:35:07,320 --> 00:35:09,800 you. Like just just do what you can 639 00:35:09,800 --> 00:35:11,200 today. Do what I'm telling you to do 640 00:35:11,200 --> 00:35:13,160 today and I'll be faithful tomorrow. 641 00:35:13,440 --> 00:35:16,720 And in my faithfulness tomorrow you can, you can be faithful 642 00:35:16,720 --> 00:35:20,040 too. And so I, they all kind of tie 643 00:35:20,040 --> 00:35:23,200 together a little bit. And I think that's important for 644 00:35:23,200 --> 00:35:25,960 us to just keep track of. Like God loves a cheerful giver. 645 00:35:26,240 --> 00:35:29,960 We say that on a lot of Sundays. And sometimes it gets, it feels 646 00:35:29,960 --> 00:35:32,040 repetitious or old, but it's so true. 647 00:35:32,360 --> 00:35:36,200 Like, give generously out of your heart because you want to, 648 00:35:36,600 --> 00:35:38,800 not because you're trying to look a certain way or prove 649 00:35:38,800 --> 00:35:41,000 something. Yeah, or even just feel like 650 00:35:41,000 --> 00:35:46,840 you're worthy or, or, or make. It would make a difference if I 651 00:35:47,240 --> 00:35:49,360 if I gave this much more or, or I could. 652 00:35:49,640 --> 00:35:51,360 I don't know. I don't think people necessarily 653 00:35:51,360 --> 00:35:53,800 brag about their finances or giving. 654 00:35:53,800 --> 00:35:55,360 I don't, I hope not experience that. 655 00:35:55,360 --> 00:35:57,360 But yeah, it's not that misses the point. 656 00:35:57,360 --> 00:36:00,360 It's not about us. It's it's not about how we feel. 657 00:36:00,360 --> 00:36:04,520 We should feel generous and cheerful and and expectant. 658 00:36:04,520 --> 00:36:07,840 The word, the words that we use as we talk about giving. 659 00:36:07,840 --> 00:36:11,400 And this passage is just, yeah, warning against all of the 660 00:36:11,400 --> 00:36:13,120 opposites of that. It's just. 661 00:36:13,360 --> 00:36:19,160 Yep, not how the early church or or the church at large acts in 662 00:36:19,240 --> 00:36:21,600 generosity. So Yep. 663 00:36:21,760 --> 00:36:24,240 And then as we kind of move forward through five, you know, 664 00:36:24,240 --> 00:36:29,040 we have a continued report that signs and wonders are being done 665 00:36:29,120 --> 00:36:32,320 amongst them. And that's a pretty amazing 666 00:36:32,320 --> 00:36:34,880 thing. And if you go to 514 and more 667 00:36:34,880 --> 00:36:38,240 than ever, believes were added to the Lord multitudes of both 668 00:36:38,240 --> 00:36:42,040 men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the 669 00:36:42,040 --> 00:36:45,880 streets and laid them on cots and mats that as Peter came by, 670 00:36:45,880 --> 00:36:48,040 at least his shadow might fall on some of them. 671 00:36:48,040 --> 00:36:50,960 That's so cool. Actually, that's that's an 672 00:36:50,960 --> 00:36:53,520 amazing little, little section there too. 673 00:36:53,680 --> 00:36:56,560 Yep, crowds gathered from towns all around Jerusalem bringing 674 00:36:56,560 --> 00:36:59,840 their sick and those tormented by impure spirits and all of 675 00:36:59,840 --> 00:37:02,240 them were healed. So this is this is a full on 676 00:37:02,600 --> 00:37:05,600 movement at this point. Word is spreading. 677 00:37:05,960 --> 00:37:11,000 The Holy Spirit is is healing and purifying lives and hearts. 678 00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:14,840 And out of this they continue to preach the word. 679 00:37:14,840 --> 00:37:19,320 This next, the last part of chapter 5 here is the apostles 680 00:37:19,880 --> 00:37:22,960 persecuted, they're bought, brought before the San, the 681 00:37:22,960 --> 00:37:27,920 Sanhedrin, the high priests. And look, we gave you strict 682 00:37:27,920 --> 00:37:32,960 orders is verse 28 in chapter 5. We gave you strict orders not to 683 00:37:32,960 --> 00:37:35,440 teach in his name, yet you have filled Jerusalem with your 684 00:37:35,440 --> 00:37:38,440 teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's 685 00:37:38,440 --> 00:37:40,560 blood. So the disciples are sticking to 686 00:37:41,160 --> 00:37:44,880 kind of the rebuke that Peter talked about in chapters 3 and 687 00:37:44,880 --> 00:37:48,600 4, like you guys rejected this cornerstone, you rejected the 688 00:37:48,600 --> 00:37:52,280 word of life, you killed Jesus. Will you repent? 689 00:37:52,480 --> 00:37:54,360 Are you still going to live in this denial? 690 00:37:54,440 --> 00:37:57,520 And very clearly we see, hey, you're still trying to put this, 691 00:37:57,560 --> 00:38:01,200 you're trying to make us out to be the bad guys, so we're going 692 00:38:01,200 --> 00:38:03,280 to throw you in jail. And it happens again. 693 00:38:03,280 --> 00:38:08,240 They get, they get locked up, but it only gives him more 694 00:38:08,240 --> 00:38:11,760 opportunity to preach. Verse 40, his speech persuaded 695 00:38:11,760 --> 00:38:13,400 them. They called the apostles in and 696 00:38:13,400 --> 00:38:15,120 had them flogged and they ordered them not to speak in the 697 00:38:15,120 --> 00:38:20,520 name of Jesus and let them go. There's this warning from oh 698 00:38:20,520 --> 00:38:24,560 man, I got, I got caught up here. 699 00:38:24,560 --> 00:38:25,960 Sorry, I missed, I missed my spot. 700 00:38:27,040 --> 00:38:29,920 The apostles left the Sanhedrin. Verse 41 rejoicing because they 701 00:38:29,920 --> 00:38:32,880 had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for his name. 702 00:38:32,880 --> 00:38:34,680 There it is. That's what I was looking for 703 00:38:34,680 --> 00:38:38,400 amidst this persecution. The disciples are rejoicing, 704 00:38:39,320 --> 00:38:43,760 worthy of suffering disgrace in the name of Jesus. 705 00:38:43,760 --> 00:38:45,880 And day after day they never stop teaching a proclaiming the 706 00:38:45,880 --> 00:38:47,360 good news that Jesus is the Messiah. 707 00:38:47,720 --> 00:38:50,320 Wow. You know, I don't know if any of 708 00:38:50,320 --> 00:38:53,720 you have ever like gone to work and like you feel called to 709 00:38:53,800 --> 00:38:56,920 speak to a Co worker about your faith and about Jesus. 710 00:38:57,360 --> 00:38:59,560 And then they just squarely reject you. 711 00:38:59,560 --> 00:39:02,400 And all of a sudden, like you're not even really welcome in the 712 00:39:03,080 --> 00:39:05,400 you know, where you have lunch and microwave your food and 713 00:39:05,400 --> 00:39:08,160 stuff. Because like, man, now you're 714 00:39:08,160 --> 00:39:10,760 that guy, you're the annoying Jesus guy or whatever. 715 00:39:11,080 --> 00:39:14,080 And then, you know, imagine like you find that out about yourself 716 00:39:14,080 --> 00:39:16,560 and now you've got kind of you feel a little bit 717 00:39:16,560 --> 00:39:18,720 disenfranchised from your other Co workers. 718 00:39:19,040 --> 00:39:21,640 And you know what you do? You go home and you throw a 719 00:39:21,640 --> 00:39:24,200 party with your Christian believer because hey, guys, I 720 00:39:24,200 --> 00:39:27,160 talk about Jesus and now everybody at work won't talk to 721 00:39:27,160 --> 00:39:28,560 me. Isn't this great? 722 00:39:28,960 --> 00:39:31,880 Like we don't, we don't see that happening right now. 723 00:39:32,120 --> 00:39:36,040 But I think it is a really neat thing to be able to be like, you 724 00:39:36,040 --> 00:39:40,920 know, you know what like God is God has put this faith in my 725 00:39:40,920 --> 00:39:45,200 heart and in my life. And you know, I might, I may not 726 00:39:45,200 --> 00:39:50,440 be having to die for my faith in my witness, but you know what? 727 00:39:50,760 --> 00:39:55,240 In my witness, I'm seeing how the world rejects that and I'm 728 00:39:55,240 --> 00:39:58,600 still here. By God's grace, I'm still here 729 00:39:58,680 --> 00:40:00,240 and I'm still talking about Jesus. 730 00:40:00,600 --> 00:40:03,720 And I think that's an amazing thing that yeah, we should 731 00:40:03,720 --> 00:40:06,240 rejoice over that. We should have an opportunity to 732 00:40:06,240 --> 00:40:09,600 say, you know what? The faith that God put my heart, 733 00:40:09,640 --> 00:40:12,800 it's strong, it's lasted. Praise be to the Lord for that, 734 00:40:13,000 --> 00:40:16,440 because I know that's not of me. Because in myself, I want to 735 00:40:16,440 --> 00:40:17,800 please people. I want to get along. 736 00:40:17,800 --> 00:40:19,280 I want to. I want to fit in. 737 00:40:20,040 --> 00:40:22,440 But God has allowed me to experience this thing and he 738 00:40:22,440 --> 00:40:26,480 kept my faith strong, and that's a really great moment to in fact 739 00:40:26,480 --> 00:40:29,960 celebrate. Yeah, Yep, really cool testimony 740 00:40:29,960 --> 00:40:34,120 from them. Moving into Chapter 6, I think 741 00:40:34,120 --> 00:40:35,680 this is the last thing we'll kind of cover here. 742 00:40:35,680 --> 00:40:39,000 It's the beginnings of Stephen kind of the the start of where 743 00:40:39,000 --> 00:40:44,480 Stephen is introduced. Chapter 6 verse one in those 744 00:40:44,480 --> 00:40:47,960 days when the number of disciples was increasing, the 12 745 00:40:47,960 --> 00:40:50,760 gathered all the disciples together and said it would not 746 00:40:50,760 --> 00:40:53,680 be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in 747 00:40:53,680 --> 00:40:56,560 order to wait on tables. Brothers and sisters, choose 748 00:40:56,560 --> 00:40:58,960 seven men from among you who are known to be full of the spirit 749 00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:01,240 and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility 750 00:41:01,240 --> 00:41:03,480 over to them and we'll give our attention to prayer and the 751 00:41:03,480 --> 00:41:07,560 ministry of the word. So the disciples here are saying 752 00:41:07,560 --> 00:41:11,440 our main objective, our main purview here is, is the 753 00:41:11,440 --> 00:41:16,920 preaching and teaching of the word as much as it it makes 754 00:41:16,920 --> 00:41:20,600 sense for us to be a part of, of serving, of of giving to the 755 00:41:20,600 --> 00:41:26,280 needy work in the whatever the soup kitchen or however it was. 756 00:41:26,560 --> 00:41:30,680 It's not our primary calling that this outpouring of the Holy 757 00:41:30,680 --> 00:41:34,960 Spirit, this this Commission from Jesus for us specifically. 758 00:41:35,480 --> 00:41:37,520 These things can be done by other people. 759 00:41:37,760 --> 00:41:41,240 And and it's not it's not less than they're they're saying 760 00:41:41,240 --> 00:41:44,480 choose seven verse 3, choose seven from among you who are 761 00:41:44,480 --> 00:41:47,120 known to be full of the spirit and wisdom. 762 00:41:47,120 --> 00:41:50,160 So that's that's still the fullness of the Spirit, the 763 00:41:50,160 --> 00:41:53,800 wisdom of the word still necessary for for you to do this 764 00:41:53,800 --> 00:41:56,000 work. Well, we're not, it's not a less 765 00:41:56,000 --> 00:41:59,280 than thing. And this proposal pleased the 766 00:41:59,280 --> 00:42:00,320 whole group. Verse 5. 767 00:42:00,320 --> 00:42:03,480 They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, 768 00:42:03,800 --> 00:42:07,560 and Philip and Procurus and, and this is the choosing of the 769 00:42:07,560 --> 00:42:09,200 seven. They presented these men to the 770 00:42:09,200 --> 00:42:11,560 apostles who prayed and laid their hands on them. 771 00:42:11,640 --> 00:42:14,240 So the word of God spread the number of disciples in Jerusalem 772 00:42:14,240 --> 00:42:16,360 increased rapidly and a large number of priests became 773 00:42:16,360 --> 00:42:21,880 obedient to the faith. We see the early parts of this 774 00:42:21,880 --> 00:42:23,560 picture of the body of Christ here, right? 775 00:42:24,040 --> 00:42:26,240 The the disciples have been commissioned. 776 00:42:26,240 --> 00:42:30,640 They're the main major preachers players in in the spreading of 777 00:42:30,640 --> 00:42:34,760 God's word. Others full spirit, fully 778 00:42:34,760 --> 00:42:38,840 believing Christians gifted in other ways, able, able to care 779 00:42:39,000 --> 00:42:42,040 and serve and be a part of the body in these different ways. 780 00:42:42,040 --> 00:42:43,840 And we see this early picture of that. 781 00:42:43,880 --> 00:42:46,160 That's how it works. OK, we don't. 782 00:42:46,160 --> 00:42:49,520 We don't have the priests, preachers, pastors, elders, 783 00:42:49,520 --> 00:42:51,880 whatever it is. They're not doing all of the 784 00:42:51,880 --> 00:42:54,080 things. There's other pieces of the body 785 00:42:54,920 --> 00:42:58,680 coming together to bring this mission to bring, to bring these 786 00:42:58,680 --> 00:43:00,640 works all together. Right. 787 00:43:00,640 --> 00:43:04,040 Yeah, absolutely. And, and I'll share a brief kind 788 00:43:04,040 --> 00:43:07,680 of experience I had as a very young pastor in my first call. 789 00:43:08,200 --> 00:43:13,320 So I was not good at what you might call delegating because I 790 00:43:13,360 --> 00:43:17,520 in some way, some part of me, I was always like, no, this is my 791 00:43:17,520 --> 00:43:20,160 job. I need to do all of these things 792 00:43:20,160 --> 00:43:23,360 all of the time, you know, some weird form of like self 793 00:43:23,360 --> 00:43:26,480 validation, but really what I learned coming out of that 794 00:43:26,480 --> 00:43:29,080 experience. And I had good wise Christians 795 00:43:29,080 --> 00:43:32,280 around me to say, Chris, like you got, you got to stop, man. 796 00:43:32,280 --> 00:43:36,400 That's, that's not your job. But you know, the, the, the 797 00:43:36,400 --> 00:43:39,440 thing that I ultimately learned coming out of that is like, if 798 00:43:39,480 --> 00:43:44,400 I'm going to break my back doing everything, well, a, that's a 799 00:43:44,400 --> 00:43:47,280 pride issue, but B, what am I doing? 800 00:43:47,280 --> 00:43:52,160 I'm stifling the growth of the church because I'm not allowing 801 00:43:52,160 --> 00:43:55,200 other people and I'm not encouraging other people to use 802 00:43:55,200 --> 00:43:58,960 their gifts how God has blessed them to serve or to do whatever 803 00:43:58,960 --> 00:44:02,760 that looks like. I'm actually stopping spiritual 804 00:44:02,800 --> 00:44:07,880 and mature, you know, a growth in terms of maturity of these 805 00:44:07,880 --> 00:44:10,640 Christians by doing everything all of the time. 806 00:44:11,000 --> 00:44:14,200 You can't do that. You have to let people use their 807 00:44:14,200 --> 00:44:18,480 gifts and I don't care if they don't do it the same way you did 808 00:44:18,480 --> 00:44:19,960 or maybe you well, I would have done. 809 00:44:20,200 --> 00:44:23,440 No, it doesn't matter. Like let people use their gifts 810 00:44:23,600 --> 00:44:26,320 how God has built them to do that. 811 00:44:26,720 --> 00:44:29,000 Otherwise it is just the you show. 812 00:44:29,440 --> 00:44:33,760 And I, I fell into that trap early in ministry and I 813 00:44:33,800 --> 00:44:35,800 regretted it so much as I looked back. 814 00:44:35,800 --> 00:44:37,840 I'm like, man, I wish I would have asked more people to 815 00:44:37,840 --> 00:44:41,560 participate because that would have grown them spiritually in 816 00:44:41,560 --> 00:44:44,400 maturity and it would have taught them how to serve their 817 00:44:44,400 --> 00:44:46,760 church and their people better and it would have been so good 818 00:44:46,760 --> 00:44:49,400 for them. But here I am prideful and like, 819 00:44:49,400 --> 00:44:51,800 Oh no, I'm going to do it. I'm how to don't do that. 820 00:44:52,160 --> 00:44:54,560 Yeah. And so we also have the example 821 00:44:54,560 --> 00:44:58,120 as as you're describing of the apostles here having that 822 00:44:58,120 --> 00:45:02,440 discernment of hey, we're we're caught up not doing the things 823 00:45:02,440 --> 00:45:05,720 we were called to do. And it's it's holding us back 824 00:45:05,720 --> 00:45:06,800 from the things we were called to do. 825 00:45:06,800 --> 00:45:10,320 And it's also holding back the others of you that that can live 826 00:45:10,320 --> 00:45:13,840 out the fullness of your faith in these areas in in this 827 00:45:13,840 --> 00:45:16,240 service. It's biting us both ways. 828 00:45:16,240 --> 00:45:20,160 It's it's detriment both ways for us and for you and the 829 00:45:20,160 --> 00:45:23,720 growth the early church and and they fix it and the people agree 830 00:45:23,720 --> 00:45:26,480 that this is this is how it's supposed to look and work and 831 00:45:26,560 --> 00:45:28,680 out of it. Verse 7, the word of God spread 832 00:45:28,840 --> 00:45:31,200 the number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly and 833 00:45:31,200 --> 00:45:33,600 a large number of priests became obedient to faith. 834 00:45:34,240 --> 00:45:37,160 We we see this model and it worked that the church continued 835 00:45:37,400 --> 00:45:41,920 to multiply in it and and then out of that got Stephen in 836 00:45:41,920 --> 00:45:45,040 trouble as we as we as we heard at the end of your message. 837 00:45:45,040 --> 00:45:47,040 But that's kind of that's kind of where it started. 838 00:45:47,160 --> 00:45:52,320 He his his his platform opportunity was brought and he 839 00:45:52,320 --> 00:45:55,120 answered the call. And at verse 8, Stephen, a man 840 00:45:55,240 --> 00:45:58,160 full of God's grace and power, performed great wonders and 841 00:45:58,160 --> 00:46:01,720 signs among the people. So even in this quote UN quote 842 00:46:01,720 --> 00:46:04,680 lesser role, and I don't I don't I don't want to describe it as a 843 00:46:04,680 --> 00:46:05,640 lesser role. I don't it. 844 00:46:05,640 --> 00:46:08,080 Was different. It was just different and and 845 00:46:08,080 --> 00:46:10,840 the disciples needed to discern that because he still moved 846 00:46:10,840 --> 00:46:13,120 pretty powerfully. He still moved pretty amazingly 847 00:46:13,120 --> 00:46:15,600 in this role, right? It just, it didn't look exactly 848 00:46:15,600 --> 00:46:20,320 like the disciples role did. And you certainly had everything 849 00:46:20,320 --> 00:46:22,760 at stake that they did. Obviously like he's he's still 850 00:46:22,760 --> 00:46:25,760 had the same amount of risk. So certainly the role was not 851 00:46:25,760 --> 00:46:27,480 lesser. But really, I mean, think about 852 00:46:27,480 --> 00:46:31,040 it, in the modern day church, the person who volunteers to 853 00:46:31,040 --> 00:46:33,920 hang out in the nursery during the service time once a month or 854 00:46:33,920 --> 00:46:36,720 whatever, man, what a vital, important role. 855 00:46:37,000 --> 00:46:40,440 Like you get to be another adult in that very young person life 856 00:46:40,440 --> 00:46:42,520 who cares about them, who looks out for them. 857 00:46:42,920 --> 00:46:45,800 And you know, you give opportunities for other people 858 00:46:45,800 --> 00:46:48,760 to do and experience other things because you do that once 859 00:46:48,760 --> 00:46:51,760 a month or whatever, or even, gosh, I don't know, it doesn't 860 00:46:51,760 --> 00:46:56,080 matter what you're doing. Like, let's take a moment here 861 00:46:56,320 --> 00:47:00,000 and let you exercise your spiritual gifts, your your gifts 862 00:47:00,000 --> 00:47:02,400 of service. And again, you're right, it's 863 00:47:02,400 --> 00:47:05,400 never less than it's just different. 864 00:47:05,800 --> 00:47:07,880 But God calls us all into different roles. 865 00:47:07,880 --> 00:47:11,120 You know that I can't say to the foot and etcetera, etcetera. 866 00:47:11,120 --> 00:47:14,840 Like what we hear that right, we need the whole body doing the 867 00:47:14,840 --> 00:47:16,400 different parts that the body does. 868 00:47:16,760 --> 00:47:20,800 And just because one person is on stage and another person is 869 00:47:20,800 --> 00:47:24,160 serving Donuts, that's OK, that's OK. 870 00:47:24,160 --> 00:47:28,120 Not everybody is called to serve in all of the ways, and that's 871 00:47:28,280 --> 00:47:31,240 the body. We're supposed to share the 872 00:47:31,240 --> 00:47:34,840 burden together of ministry and then sharing the rejoicing 873 00:47:34,840 --> 00:47:37,480 together. So, you know, pastor of the 874 00:47:37,480 --> 00:47:39,640 worship team comes off stage and oh, man, that was great. 875 00:47:39,640 --> 00:47:42,160 That was great. Yeah, well, I could only do that 876 00:47:42,240 --> 00:47:45,760 because all these other people are in place doing what God has 877 00:47:45,760 --> 00:47:48,040 called them to do. That's why I can do what I'm 878 00:47:48,040 --> 00:47:50,400 doing is because you're doing what God has called you to do. 879 00:47:50,640 --> 00:47:52,720 We work together. It has to be that way. 880 00:47:52,880 --> 00:47:55,280 Yep. Cool, cool. 881 00:47:55,280 --> 00:47:58,520 We made it. You can catch Pastor Chris's 882 00:47:58,680 --> 00:48:01,760 sermon on Steven if you missed that from yesterday. 883 00:48:01,760 --> 00:48:05,600 That's also in the the podcast feed here on ERC Sundays. 884 00:48:05,920 --> 00:48:11,200 Next week we're in Chapter 8 and we're going to take a look at 885 00:48:11,200 --> 00:48:14,760 Philip and a little bit of his testimony and journey and 886 00:48:14,920 --> 00:48:17,720 ministry in Acts Chapter 8. Definitely looking forward to 887 00:48:17,720 --> 00:48:19,400 that. There's some, there's pretty, 888 00:48:19,400 --> 00:48:22,360 it's a pretty amazing moment. I can't wait to to talk about it 889 00:48:22,360 --> 00:48:24,240 with you and and hear what you have to say on Sunday. 890 00:48:24,600 --> 00:48:27,760 Yeah, so until then, have a blessed week, y'all.