Author: missionspaul

Acts 5:14
“Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.”

No-one else dared join the church, nevertheless, the numbers increased of those who became believers. The understanding is that the only ones joining the church were the ones who dared to believe, who were so convinced of the gospel that they had to be added into the number, they had to be counted.
I love the word ‘nevertheless’.
‘In spite of that’.
God uses the word ‘nevertheless’.
He will find a way.
He will come through for you.
The Church didn’t decide to change or adapt a different method because ‘no-one else dared join them’. The Church didn’t move venue to attract those who didn’t have the courage to join. The Church continued, relying on Him who cannot be stopped!
Why do so many Pastors panic at the moment of difficulty?
Why do they scramble to get the latest idea off the shelf? Why are they pestered by their members who want the Church to adopt what the church down the road are doing? A programme that guarantees growth. A fool-proof idea. What’s it all about?
When are we going to learn that it is not by might nor power but by His Spirit? When are we going to realise that when the Holy Spirit is the programme and fills our agenda that actually He has some very bright ideas?
And if it is possible to say something even more important than that, when are we going to believe that God specialises in the “nevertheless’?!

Daring to be in Church.
Acts 5:13
“No-one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people.”

This is a great accolade for what was happening in the church at that time, ‘no-one else dared join them’.
We understand fully through the many disappointments of our witness the many who decide not to join us simply because they don’t want to.
However, that is a long way away from what was happening in this early Church.
Let’s remind ourselves what was happening.
1. Ananias and Sapphira died suddenly because of their lie over their giving. They died on the pronouncement of the Church leader.
2. The church was meeting out in the open in full gaze of the religious authorities worshipping Jesus who not so long ago these same authorities had sentenced to death.
So if you were going to join this church you needed to have great courage. You needed to dare to join because it is likely it would consume your all.
In contrast people can attend church today without joining anything. They attend and throw some coins into the offering plate, they nod at the image of Christ and the miraculous never ends their mind. It is safe.
A few months ago I had the privilege of being in northern Nigeria with the Elim churches. They gather at their buildings on a Sunday at 7am. To enter the building they are scanned by security police. They disperse immediately afterwards at 10am. They do all this because of the threat of Boko Haram who are targeting the church. To join the church in northern Nigeria takes real courage.
“Will you dare join us?” is a question often asked.
It sounds scary and it is. It sounds very risky and it is.
But this is the Church. A Church that is not safe. A Church that demands everything. You have to be strong to be a Christian here.

Coming out.
Acts 5:12
“The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade.”

The Temple wasn’t anything like what we imagine it to be. It certainly wasn’t like perhaps your church building with a hall size room and smaller rooms to the side. The Temple was vast with many sections. Almost like a conference size centre. It was easy to find a space to hold a gathering of people. However, you could not hide. Whatever happened in the Temple eventually everyone would find out.
The church began to meet in Solomon’s Colonnade. they chose not to hide away. They could have gone anywhere. An upper room, behind locked doors, into some Galilean valley, out of sight out of mind. But no, they decided to be in the face of the population.
Solomon’s Colonnade, a grandiose place with high pillars making an inner walkway within the temple courts, the venue for loud praises, fervent praying, miraculous healings, lots of jumping, leaping and praising God moments!
It is time surely for the church to come out of its buildings where only the church ventures and to be in the face of its community.
As a child I grew up in the Salvation Army where every Sunday time would be spent doing ‘open air’ work on the streets of our town. This consisted of loud band music, singing and testimonies through a megaphone. I often prayed that God wouldn’t allow our noise to awake my friends to come and see our performance. A prayer He often ignored.
But yes it is time for the church to come out into the open. Surely this is the mission. However, once in the face of the community we had better have something we can do that will be for their benefit. Let us turn our signs and wonders happening on us Christians whilst getting blessed in our nice Christian buildings into signs and wonders on mission outside the church building in the face of the people. Now that’s called coming out.

He is watching
Acts 5:11
“Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.”

Great fear why? Because God was clearly watching. God knew all that was to know.
Growing up as a child I often heard it said, “Be careful God is watching”. The reason why I didn’t fall off the rails as a young man though I often wanted to was because I strongly believed God was watching. If I thought for a moment God’s gaze had not been on me then for sure I would have gone my own way.

Alexander Pope, a famous writer, once wrote: “Know then thyself, presume not God to scan; the proper study of mankind is man.” But an even more famous writer, Charles Spurgeon, responded to Pope’s statement: “It has been said by some one that ‘the proper study of mankind is man.’ I will not oppose the idea, but I believe it is equally true that the proper study of God’s elect is God; the proper study of a Christian is the Godhead. The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls his Father.” (This came from Spurgeon’s first published sermon, titled The Immutability of God and delivered on January 7, 1855 – when he was 20 years old).

Our Father is indeed watching and we should live our lives in a healthy fear of that fact.

IN and OUT
Acts 5:10
“At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband.”

There was a lot of coming and going that day.
Sapphira had been OUTside whilst her husband Ananias was INside. Being OUT she didn’t know what was happening to those who were IN. When she came IN she didn’t realise that the young men were OUT burying her husband who was also OUT.
The young men came back IN and went OUT carrying Sapphira’s dead body.
This couple looked like they were IN but they were actually OUT.
If you are IN but not truly IN you will end up OUT eventually.
People in Church appear to be IN but they are not necessarily so.
Christians call themselves Christians but that doesn’t mean they are.

“How could you agree?”
Acts 5:9
“Peter said to her, “How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.”

What are you agreeing to? Who are you in agreement with today? Sapphira agreed on a destructive plan with her husband.
So many don’t finish well because of who or what they have become attached to in life. An attachment of love may appear to be true and beneficial and yet can end up being false and harmful. Jesus said, “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.” Matthew 7. An attachment of love may appear beautiful until one of the partners insists on doing something ugly.
What kind of person do you want to become? Decide to find someone to walk with. Choose to walk with people whose thoughts, words and actions are what you would love to have yourself. Choose integrity, character, wisdom, goodness, truth, discipline, generosity, sacrifice and love. Choose friends whose influence will take you there.
Who you walk with may determine what you agree to.

“Is this it?”
Acts 5: 8
Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?” “Yes,” she said, “that is the price.”

“Is this everything?”
“Yes it is everything”

Karen Watson, 38, was one of four missionaries who died in Iraq in 2004 after their vehicle was ambushed on March 15.

Karen wrote a letter, dated March 7, 2003, just before Watson left for the Middle East and was meant to be opened only upon her death.

“I wasn’t called to a place. I was called to Him,” she wrote. “To obey was my objective, to suffer was expected, His glory was my reward, His glory is my reward.”

Anticipating her death may cause others to question the need for missionary work in dangerous places to continue, Watson clearly said one of the most important things is to “preserve the work.”

“Keep sending missionaries out. Keep raising up fine young pastors,” she wrote.

Watson quoted The Missionary Heart:

Care more than some think is wise.

Risk more than some think is safe.

Dream more than some think is practical.

Expect more than some think is possible.

I was called not to comfort or success but to obedience.

She listed some of her favorite passages of Scripture, including 2 Corinthians 15:5, which says, “And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.”

In closing, Watson wrote, “There is no Joy outside of knowing Jesus and serving Him.”

“Sapphire, is this everything?”
“Yes it is everything”
Watson gave everything, Sapphira just said she did.

3 hours
Acts 5:7
About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.

When Jesus hung on the cross darkness came on the land. What was happening on the cross was hidden by this darkness. For three hours no one knew and no one could see the wrath of God upon His Son.

For three hours Sapphira was out in the cold, she was kept in the dark at what had been taking place. She hadn’t witnessed his lie though she knew he was going to do so. She hadn’t witnessed the judgment of God upon Ananias nor did she know the burial had already happened. A lot can happen in 3 hours.

There maybe things you do not know. Today you may arrive into a situation. You have a chance to put the story straight. You don’t have to do what you had decided previously to do. This is your moment. You are today in centre stage. What will it be?

Let the young come forward
Acts 5:6
“Then the young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.”

Let the young men come forward.
There are some things that just need wrapping up, carrying out and burying!
Not all mistakes are made by young men sometimes it is the older generation that are at fault.
We need a new generation who are tired with the pretence, the razzmatazz and the arrogant lies that are being portrayed today. We need a new generation who will say we want to get rid of that. It has no place in the body of Christ. Let’s be real, let’s be true. Let’s create a new culture.
What has died in your life? Not necessarily a physical death. It could be a whole number of things. Why mourn over what will not return? It has been taken from you. Then wrap it up, carry it out and bury it out of your life. Move on.

Die
Acts 5:5
“When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened.”

What’s it going to take for you to fall down and die?
What do you have to hear?
To surrender your all and die to your self.
I am trying to fall down but I want to stand and run with my life.
I am trying to die but I want to live mostly. I want to experience everything.
Dying is so painful. I don’t want to lose anything.
But that is the heavenly call.
“If anyone would come after me he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me”
The call has not changed. It is the same today.
So right now learn to surrender and give it all up for Him. Die to your wants and ambitions and desires and plans. Die to you. Die to your reputation. Let it all go.
If Ananias had truly heard from God and obediently fallen to his knees in worship and died to his flesh then He would have lived to give his testimony. But he didn’t and may we all learn from his error.