1 00:00:01,040 --> 00:00:06,280 Please be seated. How many of you watch the 2 00:00:06,280 --> 00:00:09,880 Oscars? None. 3 00:00:11,880 --> 00:00:15,280 Well, this may, this may not land land at all. 4 00:00:19,120 --> 00:00:21,240 Do you guys know who Matthew McConaughey is? 5 00:00:22,240 --> 00:00:27,320 All right, all right, all right. But did you know that he was 6 00:00:27,320 --> 00:00:32,320 known as the ROM com guy? Like romantic comedies were his 7 00:00:32,320 --> 00:00:34,320 thing. And he was like, you know what? 8 00:00:35,280 --> 00:00:36,360 I don't want to do those anymore. 9 00:00:36,360 --> 00:00:39,240 I kind of want to do some more serious things. 10 00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:43,880 And he put that out there in Hollywood and Hollywood said, 11 00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:48,040 you're the ROM com guy. That's what you're going to do. 12 00:00:48,160 --> 00:00:57,360 And so he waited like 18 months, and then some of those other 13 00:00:57,360 --> 00:01:02,400 roles that he won awards for started to come in this morning. 14 00:01:03,560 --> 00:01:12,080 Not saying that I'm Matthew McConaughey, but I might be from 15 00:01:12,080 --> 00:01:16,920 this perspective. This morning's text is not fun. 16 00:01:18,840 --> 00:01:21,440 This morning's text is probably going to offend you. 17 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:28,080 Let's just get that out there. And this morning, you probably 18 00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:29,760 aren't going to leave here feeling pretty good about 19 00:01:29,760 --> 00:01:35,240 yourself. But I find that when I come up 20 00:01:35,240 --> 00:01:39,440 against God's holiness, I normally don't feel good about 21 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:46,360 myself. So before we jump in, let's 22 00:01:46,360 --> 00:01:48,520 appropriately posture our hearts and pray. 23 00:01:49,720 --> 00:01:51,080 Lord, we thank you for this morning. 24 00:01:52,280 --> 00:01:57,840 We thank you for your word, the amazing things that it teaches 25 00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:02,320 us both that uplift us and confront us. 26 00:02:04,520 --> 00:02:10,600 And I just asked that we would be open to your confronting this 27 00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:15,920 morning and all God's people said, well, you've been tricked. 28 00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:19,400 I am the ROM com guy. Ha, ha. 29 00:02:19,800 --> 00:02:23,840 No, actually you've been duped. No, you've been misled. 30 00:02:25,320 --> 00:02:26,800 You've actually been horn swaggled. 31 00:02:28,760 --> 00:02:30,680 It's such a crime, what has happened? 32 00:02:31,600 --> 00:02:35,200 And to think, the nerve, the audacity, the slickness, the 33 00:02:35,200 --> 00:02:37,720 corruption, let's just call it what it is. 34 00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:43,120 It's sin. No good, Downright terrible, 35 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:48,320 Very bad, odious, skinless sin. That is what imposters do. 36 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:54,000 That is what thieves do. That is what the wretched do. 37 00:02:56,160 --> 00:03:01,000 That's what they do. This is what we do. 38 00:03:07,640 --> 00:03:12,880 This is what we have done. This is what we do all of the 39 00:03:12,880 --> 00:03:16,400 time. We lie. 40 00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:22,640 We lie when there doesn't even need to be a reason to lie. 41 00:03:24,280 --> 00:03:32,080 And we lie about lying. Big lies, small lies, teeny 42 00:03:32,080 --> 00:03:39,560 weeny little white lies. We lie to ourselves, and we are 43 00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:46,400 the best at it. We know that lying externally is 44 00:03:46,400 --> 00:03:58,320 bad, but yet when we lied to ourselves, we see it welling up, 45 00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:03,400 but we do not stop it. We can see the effects from 46 00:04:03,400 --> 00:04:05,640 miles away and yet we let it happen. 47 00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:10,480 We can see the way that it will desecrate the landscape and we 48 00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:14,840 still stand by thinking that it will just blow over. 49 00:04:17,399 --> 00:04:24,480 Think about some of the biggest lies you have ever heard, not 50 00:04:24,480 --> 00:04:29,120 just political themed lies like read my lips. 51 00:04:29,120 --> 00:04:38,040 No new taxes. How many of those did you 52 00:04:38,040 --> 00:04:47,560 actually believe at first? Or maybe still, and this is what 53 00:04:47,560 --> 00:04:51,760 we are up against this morning, we are going to take a big look 54 00:04:51,920 --> 00:04:56,520 in the mirror. And my hope is that we don't lie 55 00:04:56,520 --> 00:05:01,880 about what we see because there's only one ending when it 56 00:05:01,880 --> 00:05:13,820 comes to lies. It's the truth either in this 57 00:05:13,820 --> 00:05:22,960 life or the next. And they say denial isn't just a 58 00:05:22,960 --> 00:05:27,800 river. But first we are going to look 59 00:05:27,800 --> 00:05:32,720 at some others lies and maybe, just maybe, we might learn 60 00:05:32,720 --> 00:05:36,080 something about ourselves, Something we might not like, 61 00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:44,240 something we may know that will need to be changed, something 62 00:05:44,240 --> 00:05:47,760 that we end up understanding that only God can do. 63 00:05:50,400 --> 00:05:54,240 It's going to take more than a tide, a tide pen to clean this 64 00:05:54,240 --> 00:05:58,360 up. The lies, the deceit, the greed, 65 00:05:58,480 --> 00:06:02,720 the envy, the pride, the malice, the guilt, the shame. 66 00:06:06,360 --> 00:06:13,360 It will need surgically removed. How you feel about that? 67 00:06:15,160 --> 00:06:16,440 We feel good about ourselves right now. 68 00:06:17,960 --> 00:06:22,520 I do not. When I was in the seminary, I 69 00:06:22,520 --> 00:06:26,000 read a whole bunch of books that really changed how I thought 70 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:30,080 about a lot of things. But in particular, there was 71 00:06:30,080 --> 00:06:33,240 there was this independent study that Lee and I did about 72 00:06:33,800 --> 00:06:38,280 international aid and the ethics of aid. 73 00:06:39,600 --> 00:06:41,040 Right. So a few of these books were 74 00:06:41,040 --> 00:06:46,880 Toxic Charity, When Helping Hurts and A Bed for the Night. 75 00:06:48,680 --> 00:06:54,840 Needless to say, we had an interesting experience and some 76 00:06:54,840 --> 00:06:57,040 of the things that I had just kind of taken for granted. 77 00:06:57,040 --> 00:06:59,040 Like you figure, a charity's a charity. 78 00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:01,760 They do good things, right? Not all the time. 79 00:07:03,880 --> 00:07:06,120 And they say never to meet your heroes. 80 00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:10,000 And it's like if you do deep dives on certain charities and 81 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:13,840 certain organizations, or when scandals happen, some 82 00:07:13,840 --> 00:07:17,280 organizations you might hold near and dear, you might 83 00:07:17,280 --> 00:07:25,920 reconsider if you support them. The math doesn't always math. 84 00:07:28,880 --> 00:07:33,280 And it had set my teeth on edge because now I was skeptical of 85 00:07:33,280 --> 00:07:38,920 everybody, right? I was skeptical of everyone. 86 00:07:39,160 --> 00:07:43,600 And, and I, I got some of that first hand because Leah used to 87 00:07:43,600 --> 00:07:45,600 work in a place called Samaritan's Purse. 88 00:07:46,960 --> 00:07:50,920 Samaritan's Purse is one of the foremost aid organizations in 89 00:07:50,920 --> 00:07:53,040 the world. And not only did she work there, 90 00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:56,960 she went to the places they went. 91 00:07:57,880 --> 00:08:00,560 She wrote the stories, you read them. 92 00:08:01,320 --> 00:08:02,800 You didn't know you were reading her work. 93 00:08:04,280 --> 00:08:08,840 She went to Cameroon, she went to Uganda, she went to all over 94 00:08:08,840 --> 00:08:16,520 the world, and she saw on the ground what was going on. 95 00:08:18,360 --> 00:08:22,000 We'll get back to them. In 2013, the Kids Wish Network 96 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:24,440 was famously named the worst charity in America. 97 00:08:27,040 --> 00:08:29,400 The Tampa Bay Times and the Center for Investigative 98 00:08:29,400 --> 00:08:31,480 Reporting gave them this and that. 99 00:08:31,480 --> 00:08:33,480 Why? Why, why, might you ask? 100 00:08:34,200 --> 00:08:39,440 And over the course of a decade, this charity raised millions and 101 00:08:39,440 --> 00:08:43,159 millions and millions of dollars, but spent less than 102 00:08:44,520 --> 00:08:53,840 three cents per dollar on actually helping needy kids. 103 00:08:58,440 --> 00:09:03,640 They estimate that over $100 million was paid out to for 104 00:09:03,640 --> 00:09:07,960 profit solicitors who had helped raise the money in the 1st place 105 00:09:08,920 --> 00:09:14,280 and also the founders funneled money into their own private 106 00:09:14,280 --> 00:09:15,880 companies. That's called a kickback. 107 00:09:18,880 --> 00:09:22,800 This is 1 of dozens of stories about places they that say they 108 00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:25,880 are going to do one thing with money and that they raise and 109 00:09:25,880 --> 00:09:30,240 then they go and do another. It's stories like that, though, 110 00:09:30,600 --> 00:09:33,680 that arose such charity watchdogs like Charity 111 00:09:33,680 --> 00:09:42,320 Navigator, GuideStar and Charity Watch, and it kind of put 112 00:09:43,320 --> 00:09:46,800 charities on notice that you should probably be a little bit 113 00:09:46,800 --> 00:09:49,800 more transparent about where your money is actually being 114 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:53,960 put. And so you may now go on a 115 00:09:53,960 --> 00:09:56,080 website someplace like World Vision. 116 00:09:56,080 --> 00:09:59,800 And at the very bottom it says 93% of our stuff goes to 117 00:09:59,800 --> 00:10:02,480 whatever, right? That's that's kind of the 118 00:10:02,480 --> 00:10:04,360 transparency that's necessary now. 119 00:10:05,760 --> 00:10:09,560 And let's go back to Samaritan's Purse. 120 00:10:11,600 --> 00:10:14,720 Leah worked for them like I had said, and they did international 121 00:10:14,720 --> 00:10:17,240 and domestic relief and they also did Operation Christmas 122 00:10:17,240 --> 00:10:23,320 Child. They generally hit somewhere 123 00:10:23,320 --> 00:10:30,080 between 75% and 86% of their total expenses that go to 124 00:10:30,080 --> 00:10:36,680 program and aid. Now, I'm sure that the Kids Wish 125 00:10:36,680 --> 00:10:41,800 network is not nearly the behemoth that Samaritan's Purse 126 00:10:41,800 --> 00:10:51,320 is, but in order in order for somebody to hit 100%, you got to 127 00:10:51,320 --> 00:10:55,280 do some creative math. But they got an A minus. 128 00:10:56,640 --> 00:11:00,360 When did you ever get an A minus for a 76% in in school? 129 00:11:01,440 --> 00:11:04,120 I did not. I did not. 130 00:11:04,400 --> 00:11:08,400 But there are places that actually claim that they hit 131 00:11:08,400 --> 00:11:12,080 100%. Charity water is one of them. 132 00:11:13,840 --> 00:11:17,880 But here's the reality. They structure things in such a 133 00:11:17,880 --> 00:11:21,800 way that allow them to be able to say that they hit 100%. 134 00:11:22,800 --> 00:11:28,040 And here's how it works. Yes, all of the money that you 135 00:11:28,040 --> 00:11:33,200 would give would make it there because they have a separate 136 00:11:33,200 --> 00:11:39,720 pool of private donors who then fund all of the administrative 137 00:11:39,720 --> 00:11:42,040 costs. So are they telling the truth? 138 00:11:43,760 --> 00:11:55,460 Yes, Oprah does the same thing, but guess what? 139 00:11:55,860 --> 00:12:00,300 She pays it herself. So why does any of that matter? 140 00:12:02,420 --> 00:12:06,060 I think at our core, we really want to believe that people are 141 00:12:06,060 --> 00:12:12,600 going to do the right thing that that we would do the right thing 142 00:12:12,600 --> 00:12:19,760 if we were in their shoes. And I'm sure that at some point 143 00:12:21,200 --> 00:12:24,280 you've had the conversation in your house about what you would 144 00:12:24,280 --> 00:12:30,320 do if you won the lottery. We've had that conversation 145 00:12:30,320 --> 00:12:38,920 several times and it all sounds pretty altruistic in theory, pay 146 00:12:38,920 --> 00:12:40,880 off mom's house, do this, do that. 147 00:12:41,120 --> 00:12:43,240 Had this long laundry list of all the ways that would give 148 00:12:43,240 --> 00:12:50,040 money away. But that's the the one in a 149 00:12:50,040 --> 00:12:52,480 million chance of that's going to happen makes that 150 00:12:52,480 --> 00:12:58,640 conversation kind of mute. What about what do we do with a 151 00:12:58,640 --> 00:13:04,520 windfall of 500 bucks? What do we do about somebody 152 00:13:04,520 --> 00:13:08,960 gives us a gift card That's way more applicable. 153 00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:21,120 It's way more applicable. And the thing that makes me kind 154 00:13:21,120 --> 00:13:26,120 of chuckle about the Oscars or about social media in general, 155 00:13:27,200 --> 00:13:32,920 is that Uber rich people usually have the best advice about how 156 00:13:32,920 --> 00:13:40,920 not Uber rich people should support other people when some 157 00:13:40,920 --> 00:13:45,960 of those Uber rich people could wipe out in a snap of their 158 00:13:45,960 --> 00:13:48,280 fingers medical debt for 100,000 people. 159 00:13:52,720 --> 00:14:01,480 And the Oscar goes to Ananias and Sapphira carry out for two. 160 00:14:01,960 --> 00:14:05,520 It's a cautionary tale about giving 100% and what happened 161 00:14:05,520 --> 00:14:12,240 when people held back. I told myself I wasn't going to 162 00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:21,040 cry. And at the end of Acts 4, we 163 00:14:21,040 --> 00:14:23,120 pick it up. Now here's the funny part. 164 00:14:23,600 --> 00:14:26,280 This text actually includes everything that Jerry read. 165 00:14:26,920 --> 00:14:31,920 This story is not stand alone. It is necessary to have heard 166 00:14:32,160 --> 00:14:36,080 what you already heard because what happens is there's being 167 00:14:36,080 --> 00:14:41,720 set up what's called a contrast. All of the believers, we're 168 00:14:41,720 --> 00:14:48,320 doing these things, but this happens all the time. 169 00:14:55,620 --> 00:15:02,880 But a man named Ananias and his wife Sapphira sold a piece of 170 00:15:02,880 --> 00:15:07,960 property and with his wife's knowledge he kept back for 171 00:15:07,960 --> 00:15:13,240 himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and 172 00:15:13,240 --> 00:15:21,720 laid it at the apostles feet. It's important for us to know 173 00:15:21,720 --> 00:15:23,600 two things before we go any further. 174 00:15:29,640 --> 00:15:33,440 We don't know the situation 100%. 175 00:15:36,280 --> 00:15:40,720 We weren't there and there could have been. 176 00:15:40,720 --> 00:15:44,360 A lot of the scholars were very broken up about what their 177 00:15:44,360 --> 00:15:49,360 motivations might be. And if this were a modern day 178 00:15:49,360 --> 00:15:52,960 tale, I'm sure there would be concerns about tax write offs 179 00:15:52,960 --> 00:15:54,200 and this that and the other thing. 180 00:15:56,120 --> 00:16:02,360 But the core of it we don't actually catch unless we know 181 00:16:02,360 --> 00:16:07,000 Greek, because when you read this in English, it doesn't 182 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:13,520 really seem like there's too much wrong other than he didn't 183 00:16:13,520 --> 00:16:15,080 keep his. I mean, he kept his wife in the 184 00:16:15,080 --> 00:16:17,080 loop. But I mean, if you don't keep 185 00:16:17,080 --> 00:16:19,160 your wife in the loop, then you could have major problems. 186 00:16:24,160 --> 00:16:33,160 But this phrase kept back. Is what the whole thing hinges 187 00:16:33,160 --> 00:16:41,800 on. The Greek word nosfismi means to 188 00:16:41,800 --> 00:16:50,800 miss appropriate it means. To pilfer it means to steal it 189 00:16:50,800 --> 00:17:01,760 means not just kept back. Now my 4th grade teacher Missus 190 00:17:01,760 --> 00:17:05,319 Yaros would say now that's the horse of a different color 191 00:17:07,280 --> 00:17:12,960 because when you understand that they sold a property and with 192 00:17:12,960 --> 00:17:15,440 his wife's knowledge, which means they had a meeting about 193 00:17:15,440 --> 00:17:22,720 it, he kept back. He knows fisimide some of the 194 00:17:22,720 --> 00:17:30,160 proceeds when a guy named Barnabas, he gave everything and 195 00:17:30,160 --> 00:17:33,560 all everybody else was selling and giving and whatever. 196 00:17:34,880 --> 00:17:39,920 And you have this guy and this gal who go, we're going to skim 197 00:17:39,920 --> 00:17:44,560 a little off the top. Nobody will know. 198 00:17:48,720 --> 00:17:51,400 And the interesting thing about Nosfismi is only used two other 199 00:17:51,400 --> 00:17:57,600 times, and they are very, very important to other times. 200 00:17:59,760 --> 00:18:03,360 The other time is found in Joshua 7. 201 00:18:04,520 --> 00:18:07,680 Now, scholars have said that this story in Joshua 7, which is 202 00:18:07,680 --> 00:18:13,880 essentially Aiken and his theft, are kind of corollaries or 203 00:18:13,880 --> 00:18:18,160 things that are connected in terms of themes to what's 204 00:18:18,160 --> 00:18:23,680 happening here, right? So you have Joshua 7, Aiken, God 205 00:18:23,680 --> 00:18:25,560 says don't take any of the stuff. 206 00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:27,800 Aiken goes, I'm going to take some stuff and I'm going to bury 207 00:18:27,800 --> 00:18:33,720 it in my tent and nobody's going to know the difference until he 208 00:18:33,720 --> 00:18:36,680 gets confronted and he has to confess. 209 00:18:40,200 --> 00:18:42,560 But if you really want to dig into that, and I, I most 210 00:18:42,560 --> 00:18:47,080 certainly say that you should Joshua 710 through 26. 211 00:18:49,200 --> 00:18:56,000 And the other time is in Titus 210 when the specific reference 212 00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:59,560 is about stealing. Now you might be asking 213 00:18:59,560 --> 00:19:02,720 yourselves like, hey, if it's their property and they sold it, 214 00:19:03,160 --> 00:19:05,200 how could they be stealing from themselves? 215 00:19:06,840 --> 00:19:10,040 If they decided to do XYZ with it, then that's their 216 00:19:10,040 --> 00:19:15,520 prerogative. Here's the difference. 217 00:19:17,480 --> 00:19:22,360 It's one thing that if they had said, hey, we did this and 218 00:19:22,360 --> 00:19:28,280 perhaps we'll give some to the church, that'd be one thing. 219 00:19:30,080 --> 00:19:36,960 But they decided, premeditated to do what they did, to 220 00:19:36,960 --> 00:19:39,640 deliberately try to set it up in such a way that it would make 221 00:19:39,640 --> 00:19:42,840 them look like they gave everything. 222 00:19:42,840 --> 00:19:52,560 In reality, they did not. Either way, it's trending bad 223 00:19:53,240 --> 00:19:56,920 and there's going to be some smoke really soon. 224 00:19:57,280 --> 00:20:02,960 In verses 5 three through 4, we see that God gives Peter a heads 225 00:20:02,960 --> 00:20:08,840 up about what is coming and so they bring the proceeds to the 226 00:20:08,840 --> 00:20:11,360 apostles. Ananias or Ananias does not 227 00:20:11,360 --> 00:20:17,040 Sapphira and instead of getting like this big high 5 or this 228 00:20:17,400 --> 00:20:22,880 picture with the check moment. He gets called out. 229 00:20:25,320 --> 00:20:30,600 Peter knows what's been happening privately, and he's 230 00:20:30,600 --> 00:20:35,880 about to make it known publicly. Here's what happens. 231 00:20:36,520 --> 00:20:43,680 But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie 232 00:20:43,680 --> 00:20:49,120 to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the 233 00:20:49,120 --> 00:20:53,600 proceeds of the land while it remained unsold? 234 00:20:53,960 --> 00:20:59,120 Did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it 235 00:20:59,120 --> 00:21:04,840 not at your disposal? So we're he's not, it's not 236 00:21:04,840 --> 00:21:11,800 about the sale of the land. Why is it that you have 237 00:21:11,800 --> 00:21:14,200 contrived this deed in your heart? 238 00:21:14,960 --> 00:21:17,200 You have not lied to man, but to God. 239 00:21:20,360 --> 00:21:26,080 Do you smell the smoke? He literally calls this out as a 240 00:21:26,080 --> 00:21:29,640 work of Satan. Let that sink in. 241 00:21:31,840 --> 00:21:35,320 Private sin usually means private consequence. 242 00:21:36,080 --> 00:21:39,600 Public sin usually means public consequence. 243 00:21:41,040 --> 00:21:45,800 But this was private sin that ended up having public 244 00:21:45,800 --> 00:21:52,800 consequences. Could you imagine if that kind 245 00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:57,400 of thing happened today? I mean, the offerings after the 246 00:21:57,400 --> 00:22:00,160 sermon. Could you imagine if you put 247 00:22:00,160 --> 00:22:02,520 something into the offering plate and then the then the 248 00:22:02,520 --> 00:22:11,080 usher comes over and goes, what about that crumpled couple ones? 249 00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:14,720 Could you imagine that happening? 250 00:22:17,080 --> 00:22:29,980 I am mortified by that, by the way, and I bet you that you 251 00:22:29,980 --> 00:22:43,500 would be horrified and offended if somebody did that to you or 252 00:22:43,500 --> 00:22:48,880 me. Even still, one of the things we 253 00:22:48,880 --> 00:22:51,200 are really worried about when that plate goes by is what other 254 00:22:51,200 --> 00:22:55,440 people think. We're We're on the real train 255 00:22:55,440 --> 00:23:01,840 this morning, my friends. What will people think if it 256 00:23:01,840 --> 00:23:04,120 passes me by and I do not put something in? 257 00:23:06,960 --> 00:23:09,080 What if I throw in a wad of cash? 258 00:23:10,400 --> 00:23:12,320 Quick, let's crumple up some ones and make it look like 259 00:23:12,320 --> 00:23:18,040 there's more. Well, they don't understand that 260 00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:27,840 I give online, but I still feel the need to put something in the 261 00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:31,000 plate so it looks like I'm doing something. 262 00:23:33,520 --> 00:23:38,840 And perhaps if I look like I'm praying, the plate will pass me 263 00:23:38,840 --> 00:23:44,160 by and I will avoid the embarrassment of not having 264 00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:54,360 anything to put in it. If we are honest, these thoughts 265 00:23:54,360 --> 00:24:00,840 go through our heads. This is supposed to be an act of 266 00:24:00,840 --> 00:24:05,200 worship, something that could only really be between you and 267 00:24:05,200 --> 00:24:07,800 the Lord. Yet it usually ends up with us 268 00:24:07,800 --> 00:24:11,040 being worried about what other people think. 269 00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:23,720 We all get funny about money and like I said, there's an offering 270 00:24:23,720 --> 00:24:29,800 after the sermons. So, but this is not a 271 00:24:29,800 --> 00:24:38,840 stewardship text, although a lot of people use it for those 272 00:24:38,840 --> 00:24:41,920 purposes. When I was doing some research, 273 00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:44,880 there were a lot of stewardship sermons based on this text and I 274 00:24:44,880 --> 00:24:54,520 went, you missed the boat. This text ultimately has one 275 00:24:54,680 --> 00:24:59,040 thread and that is being honest with God. 276 00:25:01,680 --> 00:25:04,840 It's the same thing that Adam and Eve dealt with. 277 00:25:05,640 --> 00:25:08,920 It's the same thing that David dealt with. 278 00:25:09,280 --> 00:25:12,720 It's the same thing that we deal with. 279 00:25:17,640 --> 00:25:22,400 I actually consider this like a it's kind of like chivalry, kind 280 00:25:22,400 --> 00:25:27,080 of like a warning. When Ananias heard these words, 281 00:25:27,320 --> 00:25:35,880 he fell down and breathed his last, and great fear came upon 282 00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:40,520 all who heard of it. The young man rose up and 283 00:25:40,520 --> 00:25:44,200 wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him dead. 284 00:25:44,320 --> 00:25:50,840 He keeled over dead. Why did Peter strike him down? 285 00:25:52,280 --> 00:25:59,800 Did God send a lightning bolt? What caused it Doesn't say. 286 00:26:03,160 --> 00:26:08,440 Perhaps it was the shock of being found out, perhaps the 287 00:26:08,440 --> 00:26:12,480 sheer guilt and shame of the ACT caught up to him, and in that 288 00:26:12,480 --> 00:26:15,000 moment it was so much that he just literally dropped. 289 00:26:20,200 --> 00:26:24,200 Whatever caused it caused a ripple effect. 290 00:26:25,520 --> 00:26:30,120 That is actually what I think is most compelling because great 291 00:26:30,120 --> 00:26:34,760 fear gripped the people and it spread. 292 00:26:35,640 --> 00:26:36,880 But you know who it didn't get to? 293 00:26:39,360 --> 00:26:44,040 After an interval, about 3 hours, his wife came in, not in 294 00:26:44,040 --> 00:26:48,520 the loop, not knowing what had happened. 295 00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:54,600 And Peter said to her, tell me whether you sold a land for so 296 00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:59,960 much. And she said yes for so much. 297 00:27:01,040 --> 00:27:06,880 But Peter said to her, How is it that you have agreed together to 298 00:27:06,920 --> 00:27:14,000 test the Spirit of the Lord? This is one of the coldest 299 00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:16,240 sentences in the entire Bible. Are you ready? 300 00:27:17,880 --> 00:27:24,040 Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at 301 00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:29,160 the door, and they will carry you out. 302 00:27:37,400 --> 00:27:42,920 She has no clue what happened. The body's been removed. 303 00:27:44,640 --> 00:27:48,720 So instead of starting with, hey, here's what happened, you 304 00:27:48,720 --> 00:27:52,560 know your husband died. Peter just keeps up with the 305 00:27:52,560 --> 00:27:55,680 confrontation and asks her to corroborate the story. 306 00:27:58,680 --> 00:28:04,480 She does and it's as if Peter just assumes that the same thing 307 00:28:04,480 --> 00:28:12,640 is going to happen and he announces, behold, the feet of 308 00:28:12,640 --> 00:28:16,800 those who have buried your husband are at the door and they 309 00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:24,520 will carry you out. She didn't get a refund. 310 00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:27,200 There was no here. Take your money. 311 00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:30,040 It's no good to us. We don't know if they kept the 312 00:28:30,040 --> 00:28:36,080 money or not. And immediately she fell down at 313 00:28:36,080 --> 00:28:39,480 his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in and 314 00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:43,200 found her dead, they carried her out and buried her beside her 315 00:28:43,200 --> 00:28:48,520 husband. And great fear came upon the 316 00:28:48,520 --> 00:28:54,320 whole church and upon all who heard these things. 317 00:28:58,760 --> 00:29:01,560 And if we are listening this morning, we might be a little 318 00:29:01,560 --> 00:29:09,720 bit scared ourselves, but I think things are a little bit 319 00:29:09,720 --> 00:29:15,280 different now because it just doesn't seem like we have that 320 00:29:15,280 --> 00:29:20,760 same kind of fear anymore. The kind of fear that leads to 321 00:29:20,760 --> 00:29:24,720 repentance. We just kind of operate with the 322 00:29:24,720 --> 00:29:33,960 kind of fear that helps us stop. And then soon enough, we're 323 00:29:33,960 --> 00:29:40,440 right back on the path that we were on before, Enough to 324 00:29:40,440 --> 00:29:44,400 reflect, but maybe not enough to repent. 325 00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:52,080 And sometimes we take our sin pretty lightly, that we sin and 326 00:29:52,080 --> 00:29:55,200 just count on the fact that we have been forgiven and that we 327 00:29:55,200 --> 00:29:59,320 will be forgiven as a license to just keep doing it. 328 00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:10,960 I wonder if we do not have fear of God's judgement anymore. 329 00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:18,320 I know we've grown incredibly comfortable with the way that 330 00:30:18,320 --> 00:30:25,000 life is, where we can be on fire when we want to be, and we can 331 00:30:25,040 --> 00:30:35,640 opt out just the same. How accountable are we these 332 00:30:35,640 --> 00:30:40,520 days? This shows up in our behaviors. 333 00:30:44,680 --> 00:30:47,640 We might attend and engage in church like it's just an 334 00:30:47,640 --> 00:30:54,840 activity, rather than seeing this body as essential to our 335 00:30:54,840 --> 00:31:02,000 survival. Who is getting on your case when 336 00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:06,400 you're not here? Who misses you? 337 00:31:09,240 --> 00:31:15,240 Who are you looking after? Who do you miss? 338 00:31:19,680 --> 00:31:23,320 This might be Captain Obvious, but the word community. 339 00:31:23,720 --> 00:31:27,720 There's 2 words. There's come and there's unity. 340 00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:38,600 The come part is presence, you're not present if you don't 341 00:31:38,600 --> 00:31:46,000 come, and the unity part is where influence is found. 342 00:31:47,240 --> 00:31:54,160 You need to come into unity so that you may be influenced to go 343 00:31:54,160 --> 00:32:06,400 then become an influence. And they say, people who do 344 00:32:06,400 --> 00:32:11,240 these statistics, that you need to be someplace 3 out of four 345 00:32:11,240 --> 00:32:14,560 times in a given month to feel connected. 346 00:32:17,160 --> 00:32:24,280 And we wonder why in America, where the average community is 347 00:32:24,280 --> 00:32:30,200 one out of four, that people are lonely, that people feel 348 00:32:30,280 --> 00:32:35,320 disconnected, that people feel far from God, that people feel 349 00:32:35,320 --> 00:32:40,120 all of these different things when part of it simply has to do 350 00:32:40,120 --> 00:32:49,680 with presence. We might give like it's just 351 00:32:49,680 --> 00:32:53,800 another obligation, like a monthly bill instead of a 352 00:32:53,800 --> 00:32:58,240 radical act of obedience or a movement of the Spirit into 353 00:32:58,240 --> 00:33:03,160 generosity. There's no one who comes and 354 00:33:03,160 --> 00:33:07,920 sits down at my kitchen table when I'm doing my bills to make 355 00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:15,000 sure that I give. Who would you let into your life 356 00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:23,640 to do that? And we might live like we can be 357 00:33:23,640 --> 00:33:28,560 the kind of people that we want others to see and elsewhere go 358 00:33:28,560 --> 00:33:33,080 be who we really are. And this is actually the scary 359 00:33:33,080 --> 00:33:35,920 part of the story. And this is the part that 360 00:33:35,920 --> 00:33:40,080 gripped me. Not that they did what they did, 361 00:33:41,240 --> 00:33:49,880 not that they lied or even died. But I wonder what if they had 362 00:33:49,880 --> 00:33:56,160 had someone in their life that could have advised them, who 363 00:33:56,160 --> 00:34:01,560 could have known them, perhaps could have talked them out of 364 00:34:01,560 --> 00:34:05,440 what they were planning on doing, or perhaps even redeemed 365 00:34:05,440 --> 00:34:10,000 it? Did anyone have presence with 366 00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:18,560 them? And if not, I am not surprised 367 00:34:18,560 --> 00:34:26,120 at the outcome. Do you have anyone in your life 368 00:34:26,440 --> 00:34:36,920 that has the presence to influence you, that knows you 369 00:34:36,920 --> 00:34:41,520 well enough to be able to reach into the dark and ugly parts of 370 00:34:41,520 --> 00:34:46,120 your life and have the presence to pull out the weeds? 371 00:34:49,679 --> 00:34:55,239 That they can see you careening towards a Cliff, jump in, grab 372 00:34:55,239 --> 00:34:58,000 the wheel, pull the brake and stop the car? 373 00:35:07,100 --> 00:35:13,940 The people to your left and to your right, Could they do it? 374 00:35:20,580 --> 00:35:27,260 Would you invite them in? Would they invite you in? 375 00:35:35,280 --> 00:35:40,640 Whether we know it or not, we are influenced all the time. 376 00:35:42,760 --> 00:35:47,080 And if this isn't a phrase that you already know, it is a phrase 377 00:35:47,080 --> 00:35:49,320 you are going to hear from now until forever. 378 00:35:51,560 --> 00:35:54,960 That we are discipled by an algorithm. 379 00:35:56,840 --> 00:36:05,400 Now, what does that mean with the amount of time that we spend 380 00:36:06,440 --> 00:36:12,400 absorbing media through our phones, TV, social, whatever, 381 00:36:16,400 --> 00:36:21,160 all of it is shaping you. We no longer live in an era of 382 00:36:21,160 --> 00:36:24,120 social media that died three years ago. 383 00:36:24,600 --> 00:36:29,560 That's three. It's now called interest media, 384 00:36:29,560 --> 00:36:33,200 which means it's created specifically for the things that 385 00:36:33,200 --> 00:36:37,800 you care about. So if you watch something for X 386 00:36:37,800 --> 00:36:41,480 amount of seconds, the algorithm goes show them more of that. 387 00:36:41,760 --> 00:36:44,080 That'll keep them here. Scroll, scroll, scroll. 388 00:36:46,040 --> 00:36:48,120 No longer social. Do you? 389 00:36:48,200 --> 00:36:50,880 Do you get pictures of your friends, kids, birthday parties 390 00:36:50,880 --> 00:36:52,960 anymore? Not really. 391 00:36:54,400 --> 00:36:59,040 You get advertisements, you get businesses doing sponsored ads, 392 00:36:59,040 --> 00:37:00,680 you get all these kinds of different things. 393 00:37:03,920 --> 00:37:06,320 It's no longer social media. It's called interest media. 394 00:37:08,520 --> 00:37:13,680 And whether we know it or not, we allow ourselves to be 395 00:37:14,080 --> 00:37:17,120 discipled by it because that's who we spend time with. 396 00:37:18,160 --> 00:37:23,800 If our presence is with a screen 7 hours a day, that's what they 397 00:37:23,800 --> 00:37:27,840 say. That's well over 40 hours a 398 00:37:27,840 --> 00:37:30,960 week. That's a work week that there's 399 00:37:31,040 --> 00:37:42,000 influence on you. How can one hour a week compete 400 00:37:43,080 --> 00:37:54,680 with 40? When we disciple kids, one of 401 00:37:54,680 --> 00:37:56,600 the reasons why we're so passionate that you were 402 00:37:56,600 --> 00:38:00,240 ultimately their disciplers and that we're coming alongside you 403 00:38:00,680 --> 00:38:05,720 is because we understand that we get one hour, maybe a week to 404 00:38:05,720 --> 00:38:09,160 help. And in the course of a year you 405 00:38:09,160 --> 00:38:13,200 have 3000. And so the best thing that we 406 00:38:13,200 --> 00:38:17,000 can do is come alongside you as best we can. 407 00:38:22,600 --> 00:38:30,680 How can one hour a week compete? Yesterday at the Faith in Life 408 00:38:30,680 --> 00:38:37,240 conference, it was fantastic. They talked about presence and 409 00:38:37,240 --> 00:38:40,240 influence, and it was such a thing that I had already had my 410 00:38:40,240 --> 00:38:43,520 sermon finished yesterday and I'm sitting there listening and 411 00:38:43,520 --> 00:38:46,440 I go, that's exactly where I'm going. 412 00:38:47,960 --> 00:38:52,320 And so I sat there in the kitchen basically writing as 413 00:38:52,320 --> 00:38:55,600 fast as I can to keep up with what John and Kathy are talking 414 00:38:55,600 --> 00:39:01,320 about, so that in case you missed it, you still might hear 415 00:39:01,560 --> 00:39:13,400 what a good word it was. And we got to Q&A time and we 416 00:39:13,400 --> 00:39:18,520 asked them questions. And one of the questions or one 417 00:39:18,520 --> 00:39:26,920 of the answers that Kathy gave, well, she said, be careful who 418 00:39:26,920 --> 00:39:33,840 you listen to. And John said, put your phone 419 00:39:33,840 --> 00:39:39,880 down. Let's be clear, it's not just 420 00:39:39,880 --> 00:39:42,760 the phone, right? Some of you might say, well, I 421 00:39:42,760 --> 00:39:45,040 don't even do the phone. Do you watch TV? 422 00:39:48,040 --> 00:39:52,280 Do you listen to the radio? And any physical media also 423 00:39:52,280 --> 00:39:57,480 counts. The algorithm's just a lot 424 00:39:57,480 --> 00:40:10,010 slower in the newspaper. But when you think about it, 425 00:40:10,890 --> 00:40:18,170 influence is what discipleship actually is. 426 00:40:19,850 --> 00:40:26,600 You come under. Or you follow someone to then be 427 00:40:26,600 --> 00:40:33,000 influenced by either watching their life or walking alongside 428 00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:36,840 them in their life about how to better live yours. 429 00:40:38,600 --> 00:40:47,760 So we are all following someone or something and yet at the same 430 00:40:47,760 --> 00:40:54,720 time we are all leading someone. At the very least you lead 431 00:40:54,720 --> 00:41:07,880 yourself. It's one thing that they lied. 432 00:41:11,560 --> 00:41:16,840 It's another thing that maybe they didn't have a structure in 433 00:41:16,840 --> 00:41:22,880 place in the early church to help curb that it happened. 434 00:41:26,760 --> 00:41:32,400 The Bible shares both incredibly gracious moments and incredibly 435 00:41:32,400 --> 00:41:39,480 tragic moments. But these guys, when you really 436 00:41:39,480 --> 00:41:43,000 look at what happened, they were chasing influence. 437 00:41:51,480 --> 00:41:55,360 If they had had some influence in their life, someone present 438 00:41:55,360 --> 00:41:58,040 in their life, perhaps they would have made a different 439 00:41:58,040 --> 00:42:01,280 choice. They were clearly looking or 440 00:42:01,280 --> 00:42:05,360 seeking to gain some sort of influence with a gift that they 441 00:42:05,360 --> 00:42:09,600 made and how they made it. The consequences of their 442 00:42:09,600 --> 00:42:16,280 actions had incredible influence on the rest of the church and 443 00:42:16,280 --> 00:42:23,560 all those who heard it. And we have, having heard this, 444 00:42:23,560 --> 00:42:27,800 now are included in those crowd of witnesses. 445 00:42:28,400 --> 00:42:39,200 And I will, I pray that we will respond well because 446 00:42:39,200 --> 00:42:47,160 discipleship is influence. And in order to be influence, 447 00:42:48,440 --> 00:42:55,040 you have to be a present. And in order to be a present, we 448 00:42:55,040 --> 00:42:57,840 need God's help. Let's pray. 449 00:43:11,200 --> 00:43:14,240 Lord, we thank You that You are the ultimate example of 450 00:43:14,240 --> 00:43:24,040 influence, that you came, You lived a perfect, sinless life. 451 00:43:27,560 --> 00:43:38,120 You took our sin upon the cross, You vanquished it, and then you 452 00:43:38,120 --> 00:43:48,930 victoriously rose again. If that's not a picture of 453 00:43:48,930 --> 00:43:58,770 influence, I don't know what is. As we approach Easter and we 454 00:43:58,770 --> 00:44:07,810 look at this week more closely, as we look at all of it. 455 00:44:15,000 --> 00:44:27,160 Help us to remember that you paid it all, and all to you we 456 00:44:27,160 --> 00:44:38,880 owe Sin had left a Crimson stain, and you washed it white 457 00:44:40,240 --> 00:44:43,040 as snow. Amen.