Acts 4:36-37; 5:1-12, 14a

Integrity

April 10, 2016

First Baptist Church

Jackson, Mississippi

USA

What’s the number one thing?

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The glory of God!

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1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV 31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

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g

April Memory Verse

Ephesians 4:32 ESV 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ

forgave you.

Big Boom Dinner

for All Median Adults & Guests

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

CLC Auditorium, 3rd Floor

Tickets can be purchased online and at the 2nd floor kiosk on Sundays, April 3rd

and April 10th before 9:00 a.m. SS and before 10:30 a.m. Worship, Sunday

Evenings before and after 6:00 p.m. service and Wednesday night, April 6th

outside Fellowship Hall East.

Three ways to schedule your appointment:

1. Online - Click "Schedule a Portrait Session".

2. Meet with a scheduler in Fellowship Hall East on Sundays in April (8:30–9:00

am; 10:00–10:30 am; 11:30–noon.

3. Call the Church Office at 601-949-1969, Monday–Friday, 8:00 am–5:00 pm.

• You will be asked to leave a message, and someone will return your

call to schedule your appointment day and time.

Getting Older

• Death is the #1 killer in the world.

• Good health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.

• I thought getting old would have taken longer.

Sunday

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Acts 5:25-35; 5:38-42

Faithful

April 17, 2016

First Baptist Church

Jackson, Mississippi

USA

Today

Acts 4:36-37; 5:1-11

Integrity

Simple Definition of integrity - the state of being complete or whole, undivided.

Directly from Latin integritatem from integer "whole" (see integer).

Integer (n.) “a whole number”, not a fraction.

From Latin “intact”.

In- “not” + tangere “to touch” = not to touch. (in-tangere/integer)

Integument (skin) unbroken, intact.

The integrity of the cell wall.

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This passage in Acts 5 concerning the hypocrisy of Ananias and Sapphira lying

about their giving is one of the stories which demonstrate the stubborn honesty

of the Bible.

It might well have been left out because it shows that even in the early Church

there were very imperfect Christians; however, the Bible refuses to present an

idealized picture of anything.

Once a court artist painted the portrait of Oliver Cromwell who was disfigured by

warts upon his face.

The painter, thinking to please the great man, omitted the disfiguring warts.

When Cromwell saw the picture, he said, "Take it away, and paint me warts and

all."

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One of the great virtues of the Bible is that it shows us its heroes, warts and all.

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Acts 4:36-37 ESV 36 Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means Son

of Encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, 37 sold a field that belonged to

him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.

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Acts 5:1-11 ESV

Ananias and Sapphira

1 But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, 2 and with his wife's knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds

and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles' feet. 3 But Peter said,

“Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep

back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? 4 While it remained unsold,

did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal?

Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to

man but to God.” 5 When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed

his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. 6 The young men rose and

wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.

7 After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had

happened. 8 And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so

much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” 9 But Peter said to her, “How is it that

you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those

who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” 10 Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young

men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her

beside her husband. 11 And great fear came upon the whole church and upon

all who heard of these things.

Acts 5:1-11 ESV

Jon Courson's

NT Application Commentary

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Warren Wiersbe (born May 16, 1929) BE Series

The Bible Exposition Commentary – New Testament, Volume 1.

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Let’s pick up where we left off last Sunday in Acts 4:12.

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Acts 4:12-13 ESV 12 “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under Heaven

given among men by which we must be saved.”

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13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they

were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized

that they had been with Jesus.

Acts 4:12-13 ESV

"Who are these unlearned and ignorant men?" asked the Jewish leaders.

"They didn't study with our scholars; they didn’t go to our seminaries. How is it

they understand the Scriptures?"

How could Peter and John, uneducated men, get away with saying, "We did this

in the Name of Jesus of Nazareth Whom you crucified" (see Acts 4:10)?

Because those who heard them perceived that they had been with Jesus.

When you spend time with Jesus you begin to take on the fragrance of the Lord.

Do you smell like Jesus?

When you spend time with Him you will speak with sensibility, with practicality

because the Lord is shining from you.

The Lord is with you right now.

You not only have been with Jesus, you are

with Jesus right now and He is with you.

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Moses spent time with God (forty days up on the mountain) and his face shone

and he was not even aware of it (Exodus 34:29).

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Exodus 34:29 ESV 29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the

testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know

that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.

The people said, “Whoa Mo, you glow!”

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Even though it was the Law he carried back from the mountain with him, the

people received it.

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FnDVHuw3M78/UVMISaEH_MI/AAAAAAAAAzE/gCSLWa8zLJ8/s1600/Moses_10+Commandments.jpg

How do you get your kids to receive what you are saying even when you are

laying down the law?

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You come with a glowing face!

Not a glowering face but with a glowing face and the only way to get a glowing

face is to spend time with the Lord.

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When you come with a glowing face you can also come with the Ten

Commandments and whoever you speak into, they will receive it.

If you don’t come with a glowing face, it is just the Law and they will reject it, not

receive it and even resent it.

Don’t lay down the law without a glowing face.

When it comes to talking with people about God, before you come down from

your mount with the Law, your face had better be glowing by having spent time

with God.

Then we as ignorant and unlearned men and women will be effective if we have

been with Jesus.

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Acts 4:14 ESV 14 But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing

to say in opposition.

The people could see the previously lame man now walking with the Lord - the

power of a changed life - folks can’t argue with that!

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Peter and John were in hot water here and this guy that they had healed could

have said, “I’ve got to go!” and left them to stand alone.

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The newly healed man well knew that he could be executed also.

You find out who your true friends are when you are in hot water.

It is easy to be a friend when everyone is celebrating in the Temple but it is a

different thing when things get heavy.

This fellow, who had not been able to stand on his own two feet, now stood right

beside Peter and John as they stood in front of these powerful men.

How ready are you to stand with Jesus in the time of testing and trouble?

Or are you going to go along with the gang when the going gets tough?

I am the lame man in this story and everyone needs to know where I stand now

that I have been made whole.

We stand by the Lord.

We stand with the Lord.

We stand for the Lord.

Not just in church but out there where it gets hard and heavy and hot.

That helps us to evaluate our friendship with Jesus.

Do I stand with Him and by Him and for Him when there is a group of big guns all

around and they are not looking with favor on Jesus?

Jesus stood (and stands) by me and for me.

Take a stand and stand by each other when they are blowing it (like John stood

with and by Peter after he denied Jesus three times).

Stand with and for your friends and family when they are in hot water, when they

are having difficulty.

That is true love!

May we allow the Lord to help us to have the maturity that this man had after 20

minutes, may we have that built into our lives when we have walked with the

Lord for 20 years!

Acts 4:18-20 ESV 18 So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the

name of Jesus.

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19 But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to

listen to you rather than to God, you must judge,

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20 for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”

Acts 4:18-20 ESV

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This is the verse that the Cubans were reminded of when we asked them to go

into their hospitals and share the Gospel with the patients there one Saturday

afternoon in 2003.

They chose to stand with Jesus and for Jesus and saw 240 weeping decisions for

Christ that glorious afternoon!

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God’s Timing

Acts 4:22 ESV 22 For the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than forty

years old.

Why had Jesus and the apostles all walked by this man many times and chosen

not to heal him?

Because there was a right time (God’s time) that would maximize the glory

given to God.

At the right time healing came.

We sometimes ask – “God, why aren’t You working?”

At the right time, in His time, when He gets the most glory, that’s when He works.

Don’t give up because at the right time the Lord will work to His glory.

God certainly knows what He is doing.

So this man was healed in God’s timing and God still gets glory from it.

Satan had failed completely in his first attempt to silence the witness of the

church.

However, the enemy never gives up; he simply changes his strategy.

His first approach had been to attack the church from the outside, hoping that

arrest and threats would frighten the leaders.

When that failed, Satan decided to attack the church from the inside and to use

church members to get it done.

We must face the fact that Satan is an exceptionally clever foe.

If he does not succeed as the "devouring lion" (1 Peter 5:8), then he attacks

again as the "deceiving serpent" or as an "angel of light" (2 Corinthians 11:3, 13-

14).

Satan is both a murderer and a liar (John 8:44), and the church must be

prepared for both attacks.

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Acts 4:32-35 ESV 32 Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no

one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had

everything in common. 33 And with great power the apostles were giving their

testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them

all.

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34 There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of

lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold 35 and laid

it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

Acts 4:32-35 ESV

These church members had a real desire to share all they had.

We must note one thing above all—this sharing was not the result of legislation; it

was utterly spontaneous – because of true love.

It is not when the law compels us to share but when the heart moves us to share

that society is really Christian.

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Today

Acts 4:36-37; 5:1-11

Integrity Acts 4:36-37 ESV 36 Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means Son

of Encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus,

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37 sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the

apostles' feet.

Acts 4:36-37 ESV

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Acts 4:36 tell us that Barnabas was a Levite from the island of Cyprus and Levites

were forbidden by the Scriptures (the Law) to own land.

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Now that Barnabas is born again, he lets the property go willingly - what the Law

could not do, love now did.

Love accomplishes what the law can never accomplish.

Barnabas was touched by the Lord, he was in love with Jesus and with his

brothers and sisters.

Love is the key!

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Barnabas had a most important ministry of encouragement in the early church

and is mentioned twenty-five times in the Book of Acts and another five times in

the epistles.

Barnabas was a Spirit-filled man who was an encouragement to the church

because he gave his all to the Lord.

Not every believer can be like Peter and John, but we can all be like Barnabas

and have a ministry of encouragement.

Acts 5:1-2 ESV 1 But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property,

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2 and with his wife's knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds

and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles' feet.

Acts 5:1-2 ESV

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Ananias means "God is gracious," but he learned that God is also holy; and

Sapphira means "beautiful," but her heart was ugly with sin.

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The father of lies certainly knows how to lie to the minds and hearts of church

members, even genuine Christians, and get them to follow his orders.

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The admonition about the spiritual armor (Ephesians 6:10-18) was written to

God's people because it is the Christians who are in danger of being used by

Satan to accomplish his evil purposes inside of the church.

We are so easily blinded and that is why we need one another.

How we should thank the Lord for the brother or sister who will come to us and

say, "Be careful. Beware."

When God judged Ananias and Sapphira, He was also judging Satan.

He was letting everybody know that He would not tolerate deception

(nor criticizing the pastor) in His church.

Satan whispered to the couple, "You can also bask in this kind of glory! You can

make others think that you are as spiritual as Barnabas!"

Instead of resisting Satan's approaches, they yielded to his still, small voice and

contrived their plan.

Pride opens the door to every other sin, for once we are more concerned with

our reputation than our character, there is no end to the things we will do just to

make ourselves "look good" before others.

Their sin was especially wicked because their sin was directed against God's

church.

There is reason to believe that Ananias and Sapphira were believers.

There was a holiness of life in the early church and this kind of sin could not be

allowed to exist in that church.

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The spiritual level of the church at that time was so high that it is doubtful that a

mere "professing Christian" could have gotten into the fellowship without being

detected.

The fact that they were able to lie to the Spirit (Acts 5:3) and tempt the Spirit

(Acts 5:9) would indicate that they had the Spirit of God living within.

God loves His church, is jealous over it and will protect it for the church was

purchased by the blood of God's Son (Acts 20:28; Ephesians 5:25) and has been

put on earth to glorify Him and do His work.

Satan wants to destroy the church, and the easiest way to do it is to use those

who are within the fellowship.

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Had Peter not been discerning and had God not acted, Ananias and Sapphira

would have become influential people in the church!

Satan would have continued to use them to accomplish his purposes!

The church is God's army (2 Timothy 2:1-4), and Satan seeks to get into the ranks

as many traitors as he can.

The church is safe so long as Satan is attacking from the outside, but when he

gets on the inside, the church is in danger.

If God killed "religious deceivers" today, how many church members would be

left?

The undertakers would be doing a huge business!

"The Lord shall judge His people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the

living God" (Hebrews 10:26-31).

Satan always keeps his servants in the dark, while God guides His servants in the

light (John 15:15).

Sapphira tempted God's Spirit, that is, deliberately disobeyed God to see how

far God would go (Exodus 17:2; Deuteronomy 6:16).

Ananias and Sapphira were actually defying God and daring Him to act—and

act He did with swiftness and finality.

"Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God" (Matthew 4:7).

We must keep in mind that their sin was not in robbing God of money (Malachi

3:8-9) but in lying to Him and attempting to rob Him of glory.

This sin against the early church was what the apostle in 1 John 5:16 calls

a sin unto death; a sin which must be punished with temporal death (the death

of the body) while mercy was extended to the souls.

Acts 5:3 ESV 3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit

and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land?

“Why are you lying?” asked Peter.

Hypocrisy (wearing a mask, playing the actor) was the sin here, because

Ananias was pretending to be more spiritual than he really was.

He was trying to be religious but hypocrisy is a killer.

Hypocrisy was the one sin that riled our Lord Jesus.

It is one of the main reasons that non-believers site as an excuse to not be

interested in His church.

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Oliver Wendell Holmes said “sin has many tools but the lie is the handle that fits

them all”.

No matter what area of sin you are talking about, ultimately it will get down to

lying.

The Lord wants to be with real people like you and like me.

He does not want us to walk around super spiritual nor phonily pious.

He just wants us to be real.

He loves you just like you are!

Those areas in our lives that need to be changed, He will change - by His Holy

Spirit through His Word in His time.

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We are the freest people of all people!

We don’t have to be churchy, we don’t have to put on airs or talk with an

anointed quiver.

You don’t have to walk around with a clerical collar.

You don’t have to walk around with a fake, pious smile on your face.

You are free to be who you are.

Psalm 103:14 says “the Father knows our frames, He remembers we are but

dust”.

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We have this treasure, Jesus Christ, in

earthen vessels and Jesus sure related to

earthy people.

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2 Corinthians 4:7 ESV 7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power

belongs to God and not to us.

Treasure in an earthen vessel!

The common folk heard Him gladly, they loved to be with Him and He loved to

be with them.

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It was the Pharisees and Sadducees, the religious people, who played the game

by wearing their robes and having themselves greeted on the street corner as

“Rabbi, Rabbi!”.

All kinds of tricks that they used.

How dumb! How childish!

Silly Rabbi! Tricks are for kids!

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That shouldn’t be, just be who you are.

You certainly don’t have to pretend that you are something that you are not nor

was ever meant to be.

Allow the Lord to change you from the inside out. (see Philippians 2:13)

Philippians 2:13 ESV 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

Enjoy Him, love on Him, walk with Him.

That’s the beauty, that’s why we are so free!

He changes us from the inside out while the world says it is from the outside in.

That is why religion was so opposed to Jesus and why Jesus was so opposed to

religion.

The word religion means to bind up, to ligate. (see John 8)

John 8:32 & 36 ESV 32 You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Religion binds you up, forcing you into a straightjacket of play acting, hypocrisy

(deliberate deception) and phoniness.

Ananias and his wife saw Barnabas giving his goods and they thought, “Ah,

we’re going to imitate that.”

Ananias and Sapphira wanted the glory that belonged to God for themselves.

We must use what He entrusts to us for His glory alone (see John 5:44).

Acts 5:4b ESV 4b Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to

man but to God.

Failure in truth (dishonesty) is sin against God.

When we slip into falsehood it is sin against the guidance of the Spirit in our

hearts.

In verse 3 Peter asked “why have you lied to the Holy Spirit” and in verse 4 he

said “you have not lied to man but to God”.

Therefore, the Holy Spirit is God!

Each Person of the Trinity is God.

The Holy Spirit is a Person, part of the Godhead.

Three yet One!

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When you grieve Him, resist Him, quench Him or lie to Him – you are grieving,

resisting, quenching or lying to God.

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r=0

George McDonald said that “half the misery in the world is caused by people

trying to look rather than trying to be”.

That is why the world is so miserable.

That is also where the self-help industry is so amiss.

They say “You can become a powerful person if you just follow these seven

steps” and it all depends upon you appearing confident.

Just learn to trick people into thinking that you really are interested in them and

you can win friends and influence people.

Sincerity is the key and once you learn to fake that, you’ve got it made!

Jesus comes at it from the exact opposite dimension.

Read your Bible and save your $600.00 on the self-help course.

The key is not learning to fake it but to allow Him to work from the inside out.

He will change your heart!

Then you will be authentic, not fake.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if people were loving more than trying to look loving?

If people were more spiritual more than trying to look spiritual (like Ananias did)?

We had better be a people who pray and realize that our society is terribly

confused.

God was saying, "I'm going to make a severe point at this point in time (early

church age) in order that you might get the point for all time. Learn the lesson:

Hypocrisy kills."

Hypocrisy – is the lack of honesty and it is a loss of integrity.

Peter asked Ananias, “Why are you trying to get around this?”

Be honest and deal with the issues.

Hypocrisy will kill your witness, your peace and it will kill you.

How does hypocrisy kill your peace?

Living in hypocrisy, one must always keep his mask on and his guard up.

Fearing that someday someone will see the real him, he becomes tense, uptight,

unstable and insecure.

Therefore, as it did with the early church, great fear should come upon our

church—the fear of hypocrisy.

While such fear could potentially freak us out, in reality it should free us up.

You see, when we finally get the picture of Acts 5, we understand that the Lord is

asking us just to be who we are.

Paul put it this way: "By the grace of God I am what I am..." (1 Corinthians 15:10)

Acts 5:5 ESV 5 When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And

great fear came upon all who heard of it.

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Hypocrisy killed Ananias and now it is going to kill his wife.

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Acts 5:7 ESV 7 After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had

happened.

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How could she not know?

Verse 5 says that “great fear came upon all who heard of it”.

Satan always keeps his victims in the dark.

Those he is deceiving are always the last to get the full story.

We can be blinded by the enemy.

Those who truly love you can show you your blind spots.

Your best friend is the one willing to exercise enough courage to tell you the

most truth.

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Acts 5:8-10 ESV 8 And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.” And she

said, “Yes, for so much.” 9 But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed

together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried

your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” 10 Immediately she

fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they

found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband.

Acts 5:9-10 ESV

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Why does Scripture tell us that it was “the young men” who carried both of them

out and buried them?

We may find that out later in this study of Acts.

Acts 5:11 ESV 11And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these

things.

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We go from great power and great grace in Acts 4:33 to great fear here in verse

11.

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Acts 5:12 ESV 12 Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the

hands of the apostles.

These church members had seen lame people leaping and hypocritical people

dying and they well knew that these things were very real.

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In our church, we have seen people from crippled marriages restored and other

folks with crippled businesses get back on their feet.

We have seen the spiritually dead brought to life, saved and baptized!

The greatest miracle of all is the transformation of a lost sinner into a child of God

by the grace of God.

That is the miracle that meets the greatest need, lasts the longest, and costs the

greatest price—the blood of God's Son.

And that is one miracle we can all participate in as we share the message of the

Gospel, "the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth" (Rom.

1:16).

Acts 5:14a ESV 14 And more than ever believers were

added to the Lord, multitudes of both

men and women,

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alive.jpg

The Plan of Hope & Salvation

John 3:16 NKJV 16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever

believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

John 14:6 NKJV 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the

Father except through Me.”

Romans 3:23 NKJV 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 6:23a NKJV 23 For the wages of sin is death,

Death in this life (the first death) is 100%.

Even Jesus, the one who doesn’t deserve death, died in this life to pay the

penalty for our sins.

The death referred to in Romans 6:23a is the second death explained in

Revelation 21:8.

Revelation 21:8 NKJV 8 “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral,

sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with

fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

Romans 5:8 NKJV 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners,

Christ died for us.

Romans 6:23b NKJV 23 but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Revelation 21:7 NKJV 7 “He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be

My son.”

Romans 10:9-10 explains to us how to be overcomers.

Romans 10:9-10 NKJV 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that

God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one

believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto

salvation.

Romans 10:13 NKJV 13 For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.”

If you have questions or would like to know more, please, contact First Baptist

Church Jackson at 601-949-1900 or http://firstbaptistjackson.org/contact/