Text: Acts 4:32-5:11<\/p>\n\t\t
I. Life among the early believers<\/p>\n A. The early Christians were so united that they did not consider ownership. They\n\twillingly shared all that they had.\n B. The apostles continued to witness to the resurrection, proving their words with the\n\tpower given to them.\n\t\t
C. God blessed them all<\/p>\n 1. No believer was needy because the wealthy land-owners sold property and\n\tgave the money to the church to be distributed as a person had need.\n 2. An example was Joseph, who was nicknamed “son of encouragement” or\n\tBarnabas.\n 3. Of course, praise would go out to those who made such generous gifts at\n\tsuch sacrifice to their own wealth.\n\t\t
II. Ananias and Sapphira<\/p>\n A. A man and his wife decided to sell some of their property. We suppose they desired\n\tthe praise of their brethren, but they were unwilling to give all the money.\n B. Instead they kept a portion for themselves, but told the apostles that the money they\n\tgave was the full sale price.\n C. What they didn’t realize is that God knew what they had done and the Holy Spirit,\n\tspeaking through Peter scolded them for their lies.\n\t\t
1. Ananias was the one who brought the money.<\/p>\n 2. Peter pointed out that while the property was in their possession, they could\nhave done whatever they wanted with it. No one forced them to sell the\n\tproperty.\n 3. Even after its sale, they could have done whatever they wanted with the\n\tmoney. No one forced them to give it to the church.\n 4. The problem was not the amount they gave, but the lie that the amount was\n\tthe entire sale price.\n 5. As Peter pointed out, they were not lying to their fellow brethren, but to\n\tGod.\n\t\t
D. At this point Ananias died. <\/p>\n\t\t
1. The members of the church, who witnessed this was struck with fear.<\/p>\n\t\t
2. Some young men came and took Ananias’ body for burial.<\/p>\n\t\t
E. Three hours later, Sapphira came in, not knowing what had happened to her husband.<\/p>\n\t\t
1. Peter asked if the land they sold was sold for the amount given to the church.<\/p>\n\t\t
2. She agreed, showing to all that she was apart of her husband’s plot.<\/p>\n 3. Peter asked why she thought to test God in this manner. He told her that the\nmen who had left to bury her husband were about to return and that they\n\twould bury her body as well.\n\t\t
4. They buried her besides her husband.<\/p>\n\t\t
F. Obviously, the news of this event filled the followers with great fear.<\/p>\n\t\t
1. The teachings were not mere words.<\/p>\n\t\t
2. God expected his followers to live the life of godliness.<\/p>\n 3. It is one thing to talk about not lying. It is another to find that God would\n\tback the apostles words in this fashion.\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPrior Lesson\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tActs of the Apostles\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNext Lesson\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sharing Among Believers Text: Acts 4:32-5:11 I. Life among the early believers A. The early Christians were so united that they did not consider ownership. They willingly shared all that they had. B. The apostles continued to witness to the resurrection, proving their words with the power given to them. C. God blessed them all 1. No believer was needy…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":10021,"menu_order":7,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-10120","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10180,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/acts-of-the-apostles\/completion-of-pauls-first-journey\/","url_meta":{"origin":10120,"position":0},"title":"Completion of Paul\u2019s First Journey","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 20, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Completion of Paul\u2019s First Journey Text: Acts 13:44-14:28 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Excitement filled Antioch in Pisidia as the next Sabbath Day approached. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Nearly the whole city turned out to hear Paul\u2019s message. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0This filled the local Jews\u2019 hearts with jealousy \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They never were able to draw such a crowd. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a02.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They began contradicting\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10021,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/acts-of-the-apostles\/","url_meta":{"origin":10120,"position":1},"title":"Acts of the Apostles","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 19, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"Acts of the Apostles by Jeffrey W. 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