Authenticity of Christianity P5: Christianity and the Mind of Stewardship-Acts 4:32-37; Acts 5:1-12

lord we've turned our backs on you far too many times the cost of sins too much to bear but still you paid the fine so i just don't wanna be another person in the crowd hear my prayer lord hear my battle cry and i'm so thankful for this intercession with you i feel like i've entered into heaven when i'm in your presence when i'm in your presence [Music] and lord please bless this body of your saints with your family [Music] i pray for love and abundant peace for all my enemies and i know that satan's in there somewhere sitting in the crowd so hear my proud hear my battle cry and i'm so thankful for this intercession with you i feel like i've been turned to heaven [Music] is [Music] by faith consumed by your amazing grace light of the world you step down into darkness open my eyes let me see beauty that made his heart adore you hope of a life spent with you here i am to worship here i am to bow down here i am to say that you're my god you're all together lovely all together worthy all together wonderful to [Music] glorious humbly you came to the earth you created all for love's sake became [Music] here i am to worship here i am to bow down here i am to say that [Music] all together wonderful i'll never know how much it costs to see your voices upon thy cross i'll never know how much it costs to see my sin upon [Music] how much it costs to see my sins [Music] oh i'll never know how much it cost to see my sis [Music] upon here i am to worship here i am to bow down here i am to say that you're my [Music] you're all together wonderful to good morning renaissance live we are so thankful god has blessed us to see yet another lord's day we are so thankful for all of you who have joined us this morning we are truly glad to know that there are people who want to know more about the word of god so we say welcome to the renaissance church of christ until our renaissance family we say hello to you and soon and very soon prayerfully we'll be back together in corporate worship we want to thank again all those who come week in week out to support this great ministry and of course we want to continue to pray for our minister dr orpheus j hayward as well as the leadership of this church let us pray commerce for father in heaven we're just thankful that we've had this opportunity to come to thee with bold heads and humble hearts we truly thank me for the opportunity to come and worship you in spirit and in truth we pray and ask father you be in our midst this morning bless us in a special way that we might receive we meet this thing grafted word which is able to save our souls continue to watch over us continue to bless us and keep us for this we do ask in christ's mighty name amen like to communicate a message to our church and we want to show a unified effort in ensuring that we give you a a very coherent and clear message as we are about to enter into our announcement we ask you to be patient with us this morning uh as we would like to render a communication i'm gonna ask um brother floyd williams to come forward at this time and just shape our conversation by way of the occasion all right thank you so much orpheus i want to ask david bishop to come forward for a minute thank you david david um in this congregation everyone knows and understand that you are an elder who always is into in the know unfortunately that's not the case today because david when our fine minister uh orpheus j hayward suggested that we stay we take a take a moment to pause and recognize you for the dedication and the commitment that you have made to so many youth that we can't name we all said a resounding yes yes to that david i've watched you we all have watched you for 30 years it's probably that's probably half your life impact so many youth not just in this congregation but through all throughout the country you have been a mentor you have been a spiritual leader you have been a friend to so so so many youth that we don't have time this morning to name all those i saw an example of one young lady who came to me last year and she said she wanted to she wanted to spearhead an opportunity to acknowledge you and recognize you for all that you have done because you not only packed her when she was small but you but you also impact her daughter two generations of mentoring people and and being the dad and not only not only uh that young lady but my my kids and all these these elders children as well so we want to just want to thank you for that uh we want to thank you for your commitment it's not just you doing that for uh youth but you also i have put your your your your thumbprint on every aspect of church worship and we want to thank you for that you we call you the busy bee uh you always around doing anything what's so so powerful about you that if it comes to cleaning the floors or mopping the floors or just dumping the garbage you're not too big to do that either so thank you so much for your service congratulations for this is your day this is your morning thank you and thank you god bless man amen amen we're grateful for this opportunity now we know what the occasion is um i had to unfortunately uh move around uh david bishop in a way that he would not know what was going on and now we frame the occasion we just want to thank brother floyd williams for that opening unfortunately uh i had the agenda my phone died so i think the next person that we had on there was a prayer by johnny ross i think and then we'll go to robert so we'll have our opening prayer in regards to our appreciation for david bishop let us go to god in prayer our heavenly father to god we thank you so much for this opportunity that you blessed us to come together their father to celebrate a great heir to a elder that is so kind and so gentle that everyone loves him we thank you for his gift of father we thank you for his service we thank you for what he's done what he did before what he's doing now and what he will do in the future we ask the father that you continue to bless david continue to bless him the father to be a team member of this eldership and we thank him thank you so much for allowing him to be a part of this great church we thank you for our minister who's came together the father to celebrate david and we're here to celebrate him as well we ask the father that you continue to be with us and guide us in jesus name we pray let us all say amen amen brother wilson david bishop uh one of the things i think is interesting is that you can't be steal we were trying to get this orchestrated and you want to move and run and go out the room and everything but i think for for for the first time in a long time you have been shell-shocked so we we we just wanted to say uh on behalf of the congregation of this church the leadership of the church our excellent minister uh we we really do appreciate you we don't always agree no we don't always agree but we love you in a very special way and we thank you for uh the contribution that you have made not only on the children of this congregation but the adults as well because uh many people look to you for wisdom guidance and direction and that is because you will wear an open sign on your forehead which we all should that invites people in and they become very comfortable with you and so uh to your lovely wife lisa for your children we say thank you for your service and we thank you for being a part of god's shepherds in this place called the renaissance church god bless you praise jesus i believe we had next warren blakeny um i believe i'm sorry yeah warren is is our youth minister we're just grateful to god for what the lord has been doing with him uh we brought him on board and we're grateful for his faith in christ jesus i contacted warren and he was the shadow navigator of of making sure we can get all the bright pieces together warren's worked very close with david bishop in the youth ministry and we're grateful for his work and we would like him to render some words in regards to david bishop i appreciate that orpheus uh and it was difficult keeping it from him as you know but i will say all due respect how awesome it is for the leaders to be acknowledging each other in such a fashion it's been nothing short of a blessing to be able to work with brother bishop he's been a joy it took a minute to get to understand him as well as i'm sure him with me but now that we have a clear understanding of each other we love each other dearly he's a workaholic and i thought at some point in time i could catch up with him but it's not possible so i just leave it alone and let him do him sometimes when i'm laying in the bed with my wife at night it can be two o'clock in the morning i look over and see my phone lighten up and i know it's david bishop at work and so we love him i i feel comfortable in speaking on behalf of youth in action and saying that we admire him uh we love him dearly um his his work has spoken volumes not in terms of just the love that he has for renaissance west end but the love that he has for god i think sometimes that gets overlooked for the fact that he just works but and knowing him personally i know he loves lord i see that in his family his family is an active family and we admire them sister bishop as well it takes the support of her to allow him to do such work and so we just love him there's some representation here on today i told them if they could to just express their hearts to them but thank you leadership for the opportunity to be able to acknowledge him in such a fashion on today we're going to ask the workers to come forward and these are some there's a larger staff that works with the youth ministry and they work very vehemently in day fatiguably so we want to hear from them at this point as they give some acknowledgement to david bishop brother bishop just want to say you are the most selfless person that i know your work ethic as everyone is echoed is second to none your awesome mentor and we just want to say thank you for your dedication and the commitment that you've made to ensuring the success of the youth in action ministry and like everyone has already said just just your commitment to youth in general and the development of the next generation we just want to say thank you thank you so much for everything that you do brother bishop you're like a father figure to most of the youth including myself and on behalf of youth in action and turtles to doves 23 i want to say thank you for your hard work and dedication amen amen hey brother i just want you know i'm truly grateful for you and all that you do and just so you know my wife and i have a nickname for you it's there there goes david david's over there um but he is always there and we thank you he just he's just there uh so but on behalf um that's on a personal and we've seen that ever since we came to to west end and now obviously at renaissance um on behalf of the guard your heart which was obviously your brain child um you kind of brought it brought into fruition you just um charged arie carl and myself to kind of take it take it and then take it on um and you're always there if you ask for something next thing i know it's there um thanks to you so i just want to thank you for all you did a great example that you are the energy that you're showing the love that you demonstrate for the church and for all of us so thank you for all that you do amen amen we're grateful for some of the workers that represent the whole be it known that david bishop also effectively works with the education ministry of this church and while we're putting emphasis on the youth in action element it's important to understand that in addition to youth in action he also works with education and he is also a quintessential elder a shepherd of this congregation um in the 17 or 18 years i've been here i've had the opportunity uh once at this point to ordain elders and david was part of the first group that i was privileged to bring into he has such attributes of an executor he is also an incredible thinker and we just thank god for the tremendous gifts that he have i've long believed that although ministers engage in in training if the bible says the holy spirit raises up overseers and so through the word of god and through history and through his experience god has uniquely prepared him for this work and we just thank god for all that he has done be it far from us to ever see someone work that hard as david does and not acknowledge while he yet lives and so while he is yet living and while he still looks young we wanted to say we love you david for the work that you have done to that end we wanted to give you a gift to case if you could bring me that that's over there so we can bring it to the their bishop man i love that like he's just everywhere um david we have a plaque for you that we would love to present to you i'm going to open this up without ripping it prayerfully david this plaque is just a documented way of our expressing how much we appreciate and acknowledge the work that you've done the bible says to esteem highly highly those who labor among you and we want to do just that the plaque says in honor of david bishop an elder of the renaissance church of christ we hereby acknowledge the decades of dedication to the people of god not only as a servant to the well-being of the members but as a quint essential leader of ministry without fear of contradiction or fallacy david bishop has effectively led the youth in action and education ministry embodying the principles of excellence and faithfulness his work exemplifies a kingdom-driven mentality and an undying commitment to the cause of christ it is our conviction that david bishop has lived out the words of first corinthians 15 58 which states therefore my beloved brethren be steadfast immovable always abounding in the work of the lord knowing that your toil is not in vain in the lord to this end the leadership of the renaissance church esteem highly the work of david bishop and document this description as a memorial of his labor as he continues to invest in this so great salvation david we present this plaque to you and just appreciate so much all that you've done and uh we are also very appreciative of you to the degree that we'd like to present you with a monetary gift um we can't pay you for all that you've done but it is a monetary gift of 2500 um i thought maybe to mail it to lisa i didn't know exactly which way to go with that but i want to present this to you my friend god bless you god keep you man we love you so much let's those who are here let's give david bishop a hand for the great work and the labor that he has given to this church um let me just say that i'm i'm thankful to uh the collective leadership for for their their agreement to do this each one of them in their own right has done great work for this congregation i'm just grateful we could at this point honor david and what i love about this leadership there is no competition it's just compliments and because that's our spirit we thought it would be great to honor david bishop on this occasion may god bless you everyone on virtual give david bishop a great amen right now in the chat box and let's say thank you david bishop for the work that you have done may god bless you and may god keep you thank you [Music] lift you up and raise your you are the holy one you're the only one [Music] [Music] oh you are the holy one [Music] hallelujah [Music] if we had [Music] [Music] oh you're the one you're the only one we're singing hallelujah [Music] lord we will praise you right here [Music] [Applause] [Music] you're the one you're the only [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Music] [Music] amen this is communion as we prepare our hearts and minds to remember the sacrifice that was made on our behalf i'm convinced we were set up we were and we are sinful but god took his sinless son to stand in the gap for every single one of us there was nothing and there is nothing we could or can't possibly do to save ourselves but god chose his son possessed of everything that is salvation to die for us the sinful the sinless and we just thank god that he saw within his heart and loved us so much that he gave his son on the cross and we further are appreciative of the setup that we have every lord's day as we reflect upon that sacrifice that was made for us to take in his broken body and to take in his shed blood and remember and be thankful for what we could not possibly have done for ourselves so we give god all the glory during this moment that we're granted every single lord's day in remembrance let us pray our dear father god in heaven we thank you so much for the victory that we have in your son jesus christ we thank you for setting us up for salvation and for the continual forgiving of our sins and we thank you for this moment that you continue to bless us with as we remember your son our savior his sacrifice for us and as we take of your son's broken body and shed blood help us to recall everything that occurred through no strength of our own but through your strength and your strength alone on the cross in jesus name we pray amen victory belongs to jesus who will stand against the lord no one can no one will who can stand who can stand against the king and no one can [Music] victory victory belongs to jesus yes victory belongs to [Music] [Music] [Music] nobody cares no one will know victory belongs to jesus [Music] [Music] yes we [Music] i find my victory [Music] i find my victory [Music] is [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] no victory what [Music] if it's cancer victory belongs victory belongs to jesus [Music] victory belongs to jesus yes victory belongs to you [Music] victory victory belongs to jesus victory belongs to victory victory [Music] one more time victory victory belongs to [Music] victory [Music] it is now time for our offering and as we get ourselves to give back a portion of what god has blessed us with i'll just make it simple i don't know how you give i don't know when you give because we have so many mechanisms to use at any time i don't know what you give but i believe i know why you give so let us take time as we prepare to cut that check or send that text or go on the of the mobile site or our app just to remember why god loves us so much and he's blessed us so much and nothing we could possibly give will ever match what he's done for us yet we have this opportunity you have this opportunity right now to give back a portion and to show your thanksgiving and to show how much you appreciate the why so if you look on our screen we have the various ways that you are able to give we encourage you and we invite you to utilize these opportunities as we enjoy one more song of worship amen well there's a lily lily in the valley that's bound to be bright as the morning star i'm saying there's a lily in the valley that's bright as the morning [Music] as bright as the morning [Music] amen somebody found joy i found it in the valley it's bound to be bright as the morning somebody found joy [Applause] [Music] as bright as the morning [Music] it's bound to be bright as the morning somebody found love love in the valley that bright as a boy [Applause] [Music] amen amen somebody found peace i found it in the valley it's bound to be bright as the morning somebody found peace [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] somebody found [Music] somebody found hold [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] amen [Music] oh lord our god how excellent is your name in all the earth we realize that you are god and besides you there is no other we want to thank you at this time o lord for the capacity and privilege to invest in your kingdom it is our prayer oh god that you will take all that we have contributed and use it for your will for your honor and for your glory we know oh god that you are so much god that you own cattle on a thousand hill and all of the beasts of the field are yours you have said in your word that if you were hungry you would not even tell us for all that is in the world is yours thank you for the privilege to participate thank you for all that you allow us to manage and thank your god for the privilege to be part of the kingdom of god these and all blessings we ask in the maxless name of jesus amen welcome once again to each and every one of you as we've gathered together on this wonderful lord's day we thank you for joining us and singing and praying in this totality of the worship service so we get ourselves prepared for the word i keep it very simple once again and i want to piggyback on something that brother orpheus preached about last week but tied to something we just witnessed so and i want to make it about david real quick first of all david means beloved and isn't that fitting for everyone who knows our beloved bishop david bishop but let me let you in on this i am 49 years old not ashamed to tell it but my point is this i remember david when i was young engaged in the way that he is now and what orpheus preached about last week was this whole idea of all now i love the examples that we received last week but i still i want to engage you on another level of all we need not dismiss and that is just being in awe at how god can work through individuals over decades and decades and have them have the exact same energy as when i saw this man 30 something years ago i am in awe of how god can work through man and it makes me feel so good that i do not have to go far to witness god's all in his children so i say thank you to david as well but i say thank you to the good lord above for allowing us to see these awesome moments unfold themselves right here in the presence of our own church and our own people and as you get yourselves prepared for that word this morning i want you to think about the all that is in his word the all that is in this world and the all of what you will experience as you prepare your hearts and prepare your minds to receive what god has for you this morning so one more song and let's get ourselves prepared for the awesome word of god to be preached once again amen amen all the glory belongs to you all the glory belongs to you oh god oh god all the glory belongs all the glory belongs to you the glory belongs to you oh god oh god all the glory belongs all the glory belongs to you all the glory belongs to you oh god oh [Music] god [Music] all the glory belongs all the glory belongs to you all the glory belongs to you oh god oh [Music] all the god belongs to you all the glory belongs to you o god [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] hallelujah [Applause] [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Applause] [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Music] oh slow it down all the glory belongs to you all the glory belongs to you oh god all the glory of the glory of the glory all the glory belongs to you all the glory belongs to you oh god oh hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] hallelujah [Music] oh god one more time all of the glory on the glory belongs to you all the glory [Music] i don't know if there are any more appropriate words than to sing all the glory belongs to you god is a worthy god he is the object of our praise and our adoration and we express our praise to him because of his person and because of his work god is amazing and to that end we acknowledge the greatness of god the immensity of who he is the multifaceted dimensions of his character we're grateful that god has been good to us we're also grateful that he's been merciful and our god has not only been merciful but our god has been gracious and we want to say on this morning welcome to our renaissance virtual services as we look with great anticipation to the day when we can meet face to face and we can engage in the assembling of the saints but right now we would have you to know that our god is present and our god is alive and i want you to feel his presence even right now right where you are in the context of your home he's present right now in the context of where i stand he's present and to that end we acknowledge his awesomeness and his greatness for his majesty he is not just our father but god is our king and to that end right now we acknowledge his presence right now in your home right now on your device right where you are god is with you god sees you he loves you and he is hoping for the experience of receiving your praise for the lord seeketh such to worship him and for that reason we are grateful even now for this sacred moment to hear from him any time your bible is opened and each and every time god is about to speak to us through the scriptures it's a sacred moment and for that end we want to acknowledge this moment where god is about to speak to us i'm grateful to have had the opportunity along with the rest of our leadership to acknowledge one of our elders who works uh very closely with the leadership and with myself david bishop is a great man of god and we're thankful for his labor with our young people we're grateful for the shepherding that he renders we're grateful for his dedication and his commitment and that could be said of each one of the shepherds that i call labor uh with alongside and i'm grateful for them and what the lord is doing and the ministry of the renaissance church of christ i would like you to meet me in the historical narrative of the book of acts the chapter is four i'm going to commence the reading at verse 32 and culminate that reading somewhere about verse 37 but we may perhaps go into chapter five we may uh elongate the reading uh for your bible was not originally divided into chapters and verses um but these scrolls would uh better fit the reading of scripture in that it allows us to experience the context in a more uh in a more proper uh in a more proper reading and so we're hoping that as you read the text with me uh do not get overly distracted by the verses of the verse numbers and the chapter divisions as we will read the thought of the text as it goes from chapter four and into what we call chapter five acts chapter four beginning in verse number 32. the bible says in the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own but all things were common property to them and with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the lord jesus and abundant grace was upon them all for there was not a needy person among them for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales and lay them at the apostles feet and they would be distributed to each as any had need now joseph a levite of cyprian birth who was also called barnabas by the apostles which translated means son of encouragement and who owns a track of land sold it and brought the money and laid it at the apostles feed but a man named ananias with his wife safara sold a piece of property and kept back some of the price for himself with his wife's full knowledge bringing a portion of it he laid it at the apostles feet but peter said ananias why has satan filled your heart to lie to the holy spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land watch the question while it remained unsold did it not remain your own and after it was sold was it not under your control why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart you have not lied to men but to god and as he heard these words ananias fell down and breathed his last and great fear came over all who heard of it the young men got up and covered him and after carrying him out they buried him now there elapsed an interval of about three hours and his wife came in watch it not knowing what had happened and peter responded to her tell me whether you sold the land for such and such a price and she said yes that was the price then peter said to her why is it that you have agreed together to put the spirit of the lord to the test behold the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door and they will carry you out as well and immediately she fell at his feet and breathed her laughs and the young men came in found her dead and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband and great fear came over the whole church and over all who heard these things that is the most interesting reading that probably most children of god feel most comfortable skipping over it because of the consequential action of ananias and sapphire many do not choose to elaborate or elucidate on this text but i would like to lift for our subject as we continue down the road of authentic christianity we are now on i believe part six i thought it was part five i think we're on part six the authenticity of christianity write this down christianity and the mind of stewardship as a subtitle i want you to write the principle of consideration we have been carefully and meticulously unfolding and placing on theological display the book of acts our hope was to give you a historical picture of the first century church that we might ascertain what is authentic christianity our goal is to show you what is core to the christian faith so that we are not overly blinded by peripheral things that are not essential to christianity and further we want to take what is core to the christian faith and ensure that that shows up in our peripheral activity in other words i want you to be mindful that as we look at the circumference of what we do may we never be uh disregarding that which is core to christianity and i've said several times if you are not clear about what is called christianity then you may be practicing a mutated form of christianity that has nothing to do with what god ordained or what god is doing so we want to become educated again we are almost in some way revisiting the fundamentals while at the same time giving you a deeper insight into what makes christianity what it is now if we're not careful with that situation and with that regard then once again we can find ourselves moving and active but not necessarily purpose driven you can be active and going nowhere you can be in movement but making no real progress now the question is not are we active the question ought to be are we purpose driven because if we're active without purpose then we are running on the proverbial treadmill active and going nowhere and so the revisiting of authentic christianity is to is for you to to put yourself under the microscope and ask yourself the question how valuable am i to the progress of the kingdom how in line am i with what is authentic christianity and so those are the kinds of things we're trying to answer now we've done several things already we've talked about the necessary principle of conviction that the church had a specific conviction about christianity that christ died was buried and resurrected and that he was the sovereign that is right now ruling in his kingdom and the purpose of the church is to expand that kingdom by preaching the sovereignty of jesus now we also said this let me remind you i know how sermons are i think people hear sermons and say amen when they hear it but sometimes if you're not careful it can become place in the trunk of fagittari um to which sometimes we don't always keep in the forefront what we need to be focused on i want you to focus here stay right here write this down in case you're losing focus i want you to write this down christianity wants us to be involved in ministry expression however be sure that once you ascertain what is your gift and what is the area in which you want to be active within the context of church never believe that the area of your giftedness negates you or exempts you from doing the mission of the christian faith now what that means and please don't forget this because it doesn't make for good preaching but it sure makes for good theology your primary and fundamental assignment whether you know it or not is to make disciples of all nations that is a non-negotiable assignment that you received the minute you came out of the water of baptism so whatever is the area of my giftedness it does not negate or exempt me from the task and the assignment of making disciples my function is to ensure that i am spreading the gospel and living the gospel in such a way that i am inviting men and women into discipleship into a redemptive salvific relationship with jesus that is what every child of god is going to do so if i am a greeter in the church i must be a greeter while at the same time busy making disciples if i am a car lot attendant i'll do that and make disciples if i am one who engages in worship service i sing and make disciples if i am a person that is engaged in the youth ministry i will work as a mentor i will teach in bible class and make disciples because you are not doing authentic christianity if you divorce what you do from the assignment of making disciples now that's a hard pill to swallow because many of us have missed that important reality and sometimes perhaps it's not emphasized no matter how much we quote the great commission and matter how to how many times we may indicate the importance of evangelism it is true that is easy for us to become distracted from what we do um i need you to understand that making disciples is a core assignment of authentic christianity that every child of god is to engage now of course that puts some pressure on you to some degree because while that is the work of god god is working through me in order to make disciples which means i must not only speak the gospel i must be the living embodiment of the gospel and i have found that sometimes it's difficult to tell people about the christian faith if they don't see me living the christian faith so what can happen is that i can suffocate my assignment with my living if my living is not a crystal central kind of living that manifests jesus christ in which i'm not afraid to make him known but i'm inviting people into the spotlight of my life so that they can see the shine of christ in me and through me and so each and every one of us need to be mindful of that now we talked about that conviction piece then we we went from conviction and we talked about and graduated into talking about the advent of the holy spirit and we talked about the authenticity of christianity in regards to receiving the seal of the holy spirit the indwelling of the holy spirit in my life we talked about that so we talked about the conviction we talked about conversion and we talked about several other aspects of the christian faith just last sunday we dealt with what the new community looked like what does the community of the church look like after conversion after they become children of god and god forms this new community what did that community look like and we saw that they continued steadfastly devoting to the apostles doctrine to the fellowship to the breaking of bread to the prayers and we looked at the context to see what the first century church was devoted to well today i want to suggest to you they are devoted and we see yet another principle to a concept called stewardship there is a biblical concept that we call stewardship um that is germaine to a fundamental idea that the moment a child of god is in the realization of who they are they've been converted out of the world into the kingdom god does not only call you saved he does not only call you a christian he does not only call you a saint he does not only call you um a believer but god calls you and refers to you adjectively as a steward now probably the less archaic word would be a manager it's a struggling concept because conceptually if i refer to me as a manager it almost feels like a demotion from being owner well christianity while lifting you also demotes you to place you in a proper perspective in the scheme of redemption that everything god has ever placed in my possession is not mine the heart pill of the christian faith is that being a manager means i must respect and accept that god is owner of everything in my possession so that even that which belongs to me is not owned by me and the christian embraces this very difficult mentality in a selfish culture called stewardship now the reason that is important is because um as you read a definitional dimension of stewardship i'd like you to write this down i'm going to look at a definition of stewardship a definition of stewardship and in the definition of stewardship i need you to get this in your spirit here it is and it's challenging the definition of stewardship that i want you to get in your spirit is it is the use of god-given gifts to accomplish god-given purposes stewardship stewardship is the use of god-given gifts watch the second part to accomplish god-given purposes so god-given gifts for god-given purposes the child of god if they're going to practice authentic christianity you can't do it unless you recognize that everything i have is god-given and if it's god-given i use a god-given gift for a god-given purpose that's stewardship now if you don't embrace that you're going to miss authentic christianity you won't be doing christianity at the core and it is a paradigm shift because everything in the culture teaches you to be self-centered everything in culture manifests the attitude of it's about me god says i need to switch your paradigm that is not about you is actually about the god that you serve and anything i give you i need you to know as a god-given gift to accomplish a god-given purpose that's stewardship now if you if you miss that you're going to miss a lot of christianity watch this as a preacher i am a crooks um a caroux is a herald a herald carries a message that's not his which is why the bible calls ministers stewards of the mysteries of god we don't own the message therefore we can't change the message we only manage what god places in our possession every child of god is a steward of the gifts that god gives and so when we start dealing definitionally with stewardship we're talking about using god-given gifts for god-giving purposes all right now come with me into the book of acts i want to look at acts 4 verse 32-37 well before i get there before i get there before i get there let me give you a good definition of stewardship from a biblical text one of my favorite passages uh that deals with the stewardship concept i want to give that to you from first chronicles 29 verse 14. when david was gathering resources to build to build the temple he gives a synopsis of what stewardship is biblically here it is and you need to embrace this as a child of god watch this first chronicles 29 verse 14 says but who am i this is david speaking to god as he gathered the resources from the people to build the tabernacle to build the temple excuse me not the tabernacle to build the temple he says but who am i and who are my people watch this provocative statement that we should be able to offer as generously as this watch what he says for all things come from you watch it and from your hand we have given to you that's provocative to me who am i and who are these people god that we should be able to offer as generously as this who are we for everything comes from you and whatever we're giving we're giving from your hand that means whatever you render to god is what god first gave you you don't give god anything that he has not provided if you have it it's because god provided it and when god provides i give from the provisions that he's placed in my possession that is stewardship don't you ever be so arrogant to think you've given god from your bank account no you're not you give him from his hand no no no i got i'm giving god for my wallet no you're not no it may be housed there but you're given from his hand and every child of god has to be mindful that if god gave it to me i'm giving from god's hand now pray tell me what do you have that god didn't give you i'll wait name something that you have in your possession talent time or treasure tell me which one of them things did god not allow you to have which one and if god gave it all to me then all of it was owned by god to which if i give it if i can use it it's because god allowed me to have it and i am giving back to him from his name that's what that is well you know what i think i'm i think i'm gonna give god some of my time this week you ain't giving god none of your time that's his time see your paradigm is off i'm gonna give god something i'm gonna give god i'm gonna make some time for god did you what are you talking about whenever you make time for god you're just giving god time that he allows you to have you you're giving time from his hand let me you know i'm gonna give god from my bank account i got all this money i made and and i'm gonna make sure that i bless god and that's all your heart is in the right space i just wanna make sure you got your theology right whatever you giving god rest assured he owns it and you're giving it from his hand david got it right all the possessions that they were gathering for the erection of the tabernacle for the building of this edifice where god would show up in presence david said let me be clear god i know where we got all of these resources we got it from your hand now look at acts 4. now let me show you in the new testament that concept the concept of recognizing that i am not the owner of what i have because i must recognize that he owns it all and allows what i have to be in my possession i don't care if you're talking about talent i don't care if you're talking about time i don't care if you're talking about finances i don't care if you're talking about a relationship i don't care what it i don't care if you're talking about a friendship anything i have that god has allowed me to have in my possession i better manage it the way he wants me to manage that can you imagine that god even wants you to manage your friendships right if god allowed the person to be in your life and god allows you to have a relationship he wants you to manage what he's allowed you to have in your possession if it's time god wants you to manage time and god fixed it where time can't be saved or stored it can only be spent so be careful about how you use the time god gives you because the one thing god does not let you do with time is save it he doesn't allow you to store it you cannot put it in the refrigerator and use it later you can't put it in a suitcase and pull it out another time time can only be spent therefore it must be used wisely because you are using time that god gave you from his hand and a christian's got to get that otherwise you're not doing authentic christianity you got to literally remove you out the way and realize let me change my paradigm of thinking praise the mighty name of jesus i've learned this and and i've known this for some time that half of my christian battle is not just learning christianity is unlearning the world it's it's it's not just learning it's also unlearning it's and that's hard because we've been conditioned by our environment and our upbringing and because of our our upbringing and the context in which we've existed half of christianity is man i gotta unlearn some stuff you know how much stuff you had to unlearn you became a child of god you were baptized for the remission of your sins but you got some thinking and behaviors that need to be undone i was sharing with my young students today at the school i teach biblical studies we we were talking about and i don't know why they would give me give us this subject as teachers to teach in school but we have to teach on love sex and dating and i'm teaching juniors y'all gonna help me along in here uh i ain't talking to adults talking to juniors only to realize that i'm clearly aging because i'm speaking on a level with the assumption of what they don't know when they looking at me like you want us to help you out like i'm nervous to use certain words and terms and ideas and concepts and they sit there like we'll wait till you catch up and once i realized who i was talking to and that they had already had philosophies and concepts of dating sex and love i then came to the conclusion let me be transparent enough with them because there's about nothing i can say that they haven't heard so i said whatever you think you understand about love sex and dating has been your education in an overly sexualized culture and your concept of family comes from your family context to which when you finally invite god into your life god has to help you unlearn every teaching that didn't come from him they said well brother hey what where does god talk about sex i said everywhere it's all through scripture where does god talk about love all through scripture i said don't think god is irrelevant because you haven't read the text but the reality is whatever you understand about love sex and dating talking to these juniors i said you better be careful because don't think you're an expert until you talk to god and so what i've learned about christianity using that example is that what you think about what god expects and what you think about regarding your thought processes i have learned that christianity is as much about learning as it is about unlearning and the one thing i have found that every person has to unlearn is selfishness it is embedded in us and by the way before you think selfishness is small selfishness is what births pride and pride was the sin of the devil that got him removed from god's presence don't think selflessness and pride are small sins they they will mess up your paradigm and god has to help you unlearn what you learn now watch it in acts 4 verse 32 watch the text and the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul powerful text right there and not here's the stewardship text here it is don't miss it on your screen make sure you you watch it on virtual now don't miss it and not one of them claimed that anything belonged to him was his own but all things were common property to them now don't read that too fast because what this is the church in jerusalem you do know it started with about three thousand acts two acts four it says there were more added so by the time you get to acts 4 the latter part of this chapter we are talking a significant number of christian constituents that are now in the facility of jerusalem and here's what is here's how they they're described it says not one of them oh you missed that yesterday you missed the mistake thousands of christians converted to the christian faith and not one of them not one member of the church claimed that anything belonging to him was his own i would love to think that luke is speaking hyperbolically and maybe what he means is that most of them have this mindset or a great deal of them had this mindset but luke purposely uses this phrase not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own a core characteristic of a child of god as he must relinquish the notion of ownership of anything he possesses and embrace the idea that god owns what he manages at his core not one of them was claiming that anything belonging to him was his own contrast but all things were common property to them now watch this the mindset of the child of god is of such where although they possess possessions that belong to them even what belonged to them they did not claim it was their own and they treated their property as if it was common that means my property and my wealth and my possessions are used for the kingdom of gender to ensure that the kingdom has its needs met concept so they relinquish the idea that is mine they relinquish the idea that this belongs to me they have now the idea of my property my wealth and my treasure my my belongings are at the disposal of god's kingdom purposes in this context is benevolent all right now watch this verse number 33 i want to take a look at that and with great power i want to make an argument here a grammatical argument so you can see how they viewed their possessions i want to show you that their benevolent or their stewardship mentality was directly linked to their understanding of grace so to be in position to vest in the kingdom and to meet needs is god providing me with the grace to give i want you to get this in your spirit verse 33 says and with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the lord jesus and abundant grace was upon them all stay right here abundant grace was upon them all now this is interesting language it says they were doing miracles and they were great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the lord with great power the apostles were giving testimony or they were sharing their witness to the resurrection of the lord jesus and interesting phrase abundant grace was upon them all now watch the relationship of verse 33 to 34 verse 34 starts with the conjunction or with the preposition for for there was not a needy person among them stop connected back to verse 33. the end of verse 33 says grace was a or rather an abundant grace was upon them all next verse says for there was not a needy person among them wait a minute there was great grace upon them all for or because there was not a needy person among them the preposition 4 is a logical explanatory preposition in which verse 33 is explained in verse 34. now if you want to know what the grace was that was upon them all the grace that was upon them all had everything to do but there was not one needy person among them i want you to get this in your spirit what what grace was upon them all whatever that grace is it is the grace that resulted in there not being one needy person among them well what grace is that it's the grace and i'll prove this in a moment it's the grace that god gave to the christians that he would allow certain christians to be in the capacity to provide so that the needs of the people could be met god gives people the grace to give so they can use what they have for the benefit of god's kingdom and in this context is for the benefit of the needy the grace that fell upon them all was that god provided folk with financial wealth among them that was in the capacity to give so that the needs of the church could be met sometimes we're looking for grace to fall out of heaven when god put the grace in you sometimes god provides you with a grace to do what he needs done and it's not that we're looking for grace to fall out of heaven god will give you the capacity to do what is needed in the context in which people have a particular situation so what are we saying here grace is here looked at definitionally as a provision so here's what we have verse 34 begins with a preposition for that is a logical explanatory it expands upon verse 33 grace was upon them all in that for because there was none among them that was needy when god provides us with the ability to give and provide it is viewed as a grace how many of you realize on live stream here whenever you vest in god's kingdom agenda and whenever i function as a steward to give god what is from his hand any time god gives me the opportunity to give into his kingdom that was god providing me with grace i know we only apply grace to forgiveness god gave me the grace so that i could be forgiven of my sin yeah that ain't what this about if i had time i would show you the various nuances of grace sometimes grace is in the context of that which strengthens you do you remember when paul talked about the phone in his flesh and after paul articulated the throne in his flesh he prayed to god three times to remove that thorn from his flesh and then he comes to a climactic place where he says god responds to him and says my grace is sufficient when i am weak then i'm made strong grace can be in the context of provided strength have you ever needed god to give you provided strength have you ever gotten so weak in a situation you needed you needed the grace of strength god can provide that but then god can also give the grace to give where he gives you the capacity and the financial wherewithal to vest back into his kingdom and the only way you will see that as a grace all is if you recognize it ain't yours if you still stuck on what you have is yours you will never see an opportunity to give as a grace the only way you'll see giving as an opportunity to express grace if you know what you have ain't yours but if you still stuck on his mind then when an opportunity shows up for you to be generous you don't view that as an opportunity for grace you don't even value it we are conditioned to celebrate what we get but not celebrate the opportunity to give oh thank you jesus because i just received this check in the mail oh thank god somebody sent me some money oh thank you jesus you just was right on time oh thank you god for for providing for me my niece that's all legitimate but when's the last time you praised him when you could bless somebody else when's the last time you got excited when god gave you the grace to provide oh god that somebody was in the midst of their deepest lead and they were in a crisis and you just happen to be in the capacity and space to have what they need and you showed up unbeknown to them and you was able to provide for a need do you not know that was grace god gave you the grace to give and you ought to celebrate when god gives me that whenever god gives you the capacity to vest back in somebody or the kingdom and he blesses you and man he gives you the grace to express giving man that's a time to praise the lord and that's a time to get excited some years ago when we were still west in church of christ um i did something that was probably strange to people i made giving a moment of extreme exuberant jubilant shouting and i don't know if some of you even remember that when we was at west end there was a time when we gave and like good christians we were nice and quiet and we were pretty controlled and all that good stuff and we kept our reserve nothing wrong with that but but i wanted to help christians understand that just as excited as you get when you receive why won't we get just as excited when god gives me the grace to give and we turn the offering into a moment to shout to god because it's not just about shouting what i'm getting it's about shouting when i'm giving it's about sick god provided me with a grace now let me accentuate that point i want you to turn to second corinthians eight real quick second corinthians eight beginning in verse one i wanna accentuate the grace of god as it's in the context of giving because whenever you start talking about giving and being a steward and about vesting in the kingdom of god i need you to see it as an act of grace i don't like reducing giving or vesting in the kingdom as just the word contribution i mean it's a cool word i mean it's all right but i don't want you to divorce the word and i don't want you to divorce the concept from grace and if i had time you ought not even divorce it from worship there is language listen when we refer to the contribution as the offering man don't let that word pass by your conscience when i describe it as an offering is because the giving at that moment is an act of worship but it is also an act of grace watch the text this is the context here is when the apostle paul is trying to bring to conclusion the offering for the poor saints in jerusalem who had been hit by a famine and he wants to bring compliment to the church in macedonia so that it would encourage the church at corinth to finish their offering it says now brethren watch verse one i mean i wouldn't even get out of this verse now brethren we wish to make known unto you watch this the grace of god which has been given in the churches of macedonia wait a minute before you this whole context is about a contribution that was made to the poor saints in jerusalem paul is trying to bring that offering to conclusion and encourage the corinthian church not to lose sight of vesting in god's agenda he says now brethren we wish to make known to you the grace of god which has been given in the churches of macedonia now the churches of macedonia he is describing their giving but he's calling it the grace of god the grace of god he says i want to talk to you about the grace of god which had been given in the churches of macedonia wait a minute i want to talk to you about the grace of god given in the churches of macedonia he's talking about them giving an offering he's talking about them giving a contribution but he calls it the grace of god that was in the churches of macedonia so when you start talking about me about uh the stewardship of vesting in god's kingdom and giving him of my possessions i need you to understand that a core doctrine and core characteristic of authentic christianity is the posture of a steward who vests in god's kingdom now watch this now brethren we wish to make known to you the grace of god which has been given in the church of macedonia next verse that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy in their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality which i had time to show you there was a broke church given to another broke church broke church given to another broke church and the broke church saw it as grace to give to other broke people we've got folk that are wealthy that don't have enough grace to give like broke folk did we there are some of us who make an excuse why we do not exercise our grace in giving under the auspices and under the notion that we just don't have when a broke church had enough grace to give to another broke church and they gave beyond and overflowed in the wealth of their liberality because you know why what they had they didn't view it as their own they're past that they're not stuck on the notion that their possessions are their belongings all right watch this then in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality verse number three for i testified that according to their ability and beyond their ability they gave of their own accord i'm looking for grace is coming begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints before i go any further the notice in the segment said they begged to participate i just i just like that verse is not part of my sermonic presentation tonight but i just want you to see that the gr when grace shows up in your life and when you understand that grace has shown up as an opportunity to express god's love to somebody praise god they said listen we're begging to participate we're begging no we don't have a lot no we're broke yeah yes listen we're not a wealthy church but we are begging to be a participant in this act of grace watch the next verse five ah and this not as we expected but they first gave of themselves to the lord and to us by the will of god so we urge titus that he has previously made a beginning so he would also complete in you watch what he calls it this gracious work oh god look at look at the paradigm and the language of the first century church when they talked about giving and being stewards and being the people that invested in the kingdom they look at it as a grace and their grace is showing up in a gracious work verse seven but just as you abound in everything in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all earnestness and in love we aspire in you see that you are bound in this gracious work i'm just highlighting grace in here i don't want to exegete this context i'm simply trying to show you when you start talking christian giving we're talking an act of grace god has given you the privilege to participate in the expression of grace but just as you abound in everything in faith knowledge and all that look at verse eight i am not speaking this as a command but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity of your love paul said i ain't got time to command you to do this i want to see what your heart look like i ain't got time to give you a command and show you what it means to be generous i'm not looking for a thou shout i'm not trying to make this a matter of obligation in this matter of benevolence i'm trying to see what is the sincerity of your heart by showing you how grace showed up in the macedonian church and if grace showed up in a broke church i need to know his grace gonna show up in the corinthian church i'm not speaking this as a command but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity of your love how sincere is your love when you see a need do you want to participate when a kingdom agenda shows up do you look at it as an opportunity to express grace that's what authentic christianity is about i know what somebody's waiting for me to do boy somebody's waiting for me to get to the authentic christianity where you talk about here believe repent confess and be baptized i know what you're waiting for i know what you're waiting for god i know you you wait for me to tell you this five acts of worship and that jesus is the head of the church and there's only one church and and and you think that's what authentic christianity is all about authentic christianity how do i say this in a nice way let me suggest in order for you to embrace authentic christianity you may want to go beyond just the logistical things about the church and start diving into the essence of the church's character so that you can authentically practice christianity as it relates to its core and as it relates to a transformed life now watch this watch this watch verse 9 verse 9 he says now this is a gracious giving grace showed up in the church in macedonia and then he says for you know the grace of our lord jesus christ that though he was rich yet for your sake he was made poor so that you through his poverty might become rich in other words he's saying if you want to understand the grace of giving then i need you to see the grace of jesus when he became flesh jesus had so much grace and desire to show us this grace that jesus became poor now wait a minute here is not talking about financially poor when it says jesus became poor it means jesus became a human being listen to me when god became a human that was the same thing as god embracing being broke the eternal god when he became a man compared to his eternal expression of his divinity being a human being is poverty to god but he became poor that you might become rich and if christ would do that then i ought to be willing to participate in showing grace in offering my possessions to those who are in need that's called to the christian faith now quickly turn back to acts 4 i got to finish this turn back to acts 4 acts 4 turn back to acts 4 verse number 30 ah we can go in verse 34 acts verse acts 4 verse 34. now he shows you what the church looks like he said the church as it relates to his generosity and his mentality they was of one heart and soul that's but to say the church operated as one person but then it goes on to show you what they're giving looked like and how generous they were for they were not a needy person among them for all who were owners of lands and houses would sell let me give this straight to you that's a present tense verb which could be translated kept on selling and uh they would sell them and bring bring is an imperfect tense verb that is describing the notion of repeated action or continuous action they bring the proceeds of the sale so here's what was happening as needs arose among the believers those who were of financial capacity would sell their extra property and bring the money to the feet of the apostles and they did this continuously as needs arose so they would ensure that the church was fully funded for what it needed for the believers now the only way they could do that is they had to embrace ain't none of this stuff mine if you miss verse 32 ain't no sense reading 33 and following cause you can never do 33 and following if you miss 32 32 says they had the mindset that nothing that belonged to them was their own then it tells you how they were selling and bringing proceeds so that there was not this watch the language of the text so that there was not even one needy among them ain't one because the grace of god was showing up upon them all which means he put the right folk in place that were able to provide for the needs of the church by the way never think it's a mistake that god positioned you among the believers because sometimes it's through you that god's going to show somebody grace now watch this watch it watch watch it all right quickly we got to finish this um look at the next verse 35 and they laid it at the apostles feet um and they would be distributed to each as every had need but now he wants to show you how that played out and this is where the story gets real interesting he says now joseph now the historical narrative rhetoric feature here of now means he's putting spotlight on a person to show how it expresses what he just taught now barnabas is going to be the expression of what he just said in verse 32 33-34 so now joseph a levite of cypriot birth who was also called barnabas by the apostles was translated son of encouragement and who owned the track of land sold it brought it brought the money and laid it at the apostles speak chapter five starts with a conjunction but then it says black now look at barnabas look at the son of encouragement notice his mindset that is not his own look at his stewardship mentality but in contrast to barnabas he says brought a man named and his wife safara sold a piece of property i'm not gonna read all of this but some of it and kept back some of the price for himself which his wife had full knowledge boy there's some good preaching and i don't want to dabble too far because there's some powerful theology here so let's summarize this anonymous sapphire made a deal before i go there let me compliment them first they were actually pretty generous they are doing what the church was doing in verse 32 33 and 34. they did in fact sell proceeds and they did in fact bring the proceeds to the apostles that's not the problem they were generous like everybody else is generous but let me tell you something about god god is not only interested in the act of giving he's also interested in the intent of giving and with god he wants you to recognize that giving is so sacred that he does not want you to convolute convolute giving with a deceptive mentality so god says i'm not only concerned with what you give and the quantity of what you give i am also concerned about the intentions and the motives and the actions that's going on in your heart while you are giving the church will take what you give while god condemned what you give god's god the church should take it because the one thing the church can't do is we cannot walk down the hallways of your intent and even if we could we probably still take it praise jesus i wish i had a church right there but god i ain't gonna read all this so ananias and sapphire decide oh god to try to be barnabas without being barnabas they want the image of faithfulness without being faithful they want the picture of being a contributor without the proper intentions that god requires barnabas is genuine in contrast to the disingenuous ananias both engage in generosity but they don't engage the generosity with the same intentions and mindset one engages generosity and it's cloaked in deception so watch this the wife the husband had a conversation listen we're going to sell this property right and i know what everybody's doing barnabas you know had the audacity to give everything out of the proceeds now we're going to just now we we we're going to give and we're going to give a sizeable amount and we're just going to act like it's all of it so when they ask us did we give the whole price we gonna say yeah that's what we did because that's what barnabas did that seems to be the going pattern right now in the church in this act of benevolence so let's not look any different let's give but we're going to hold back a portion of it peter said so you got to get this narrative soon as they gave it peter said hey let me ask you a question man why you let satan fill your heart now wait a minute the only way peter could know that is that the holy spirit revealed to him something that the human mind would not have the capacity to ascertain so when it was given the holy spirit said no that ain't all of it could you imagine god could whisper to the folk who take up the offering the intentions of your giving and the quality of your giving imagine god standing next to the full collector saying um no that ain't it they pretending right now to be generous the holy spirit communicates to peter that the quality of this giving is not what it seems and peter says let me put this in proper perspective when you decided to do this live ananias that was satan filling your heart he doesn't just say he lied he says satan has impacted and influential thinking to the degree that he has filled your heart to do this deception here's what that means at the moment anonymizer sapphire made the uh conclusion or came up with the deal to lie about the proceed at that moment satan was filling you'd be surprised how satan will work on you right at the time you're supposed to be investing in the kingdom and you'll be surprised what satan will do to a man's heart when he's given space now watch this well then i'm not going to read all this look at what's on the screen here i want you to see the contrast between barnabas and ananias barnabas is noted for his generosity because it was about purpose anonymizes notice for his disingenuous act of giving because it was about image it's about emmett for ananias it was about looking like listen god don't care nothing about what you look if you look like a christian god wants you to be a christian he uh ananias wants to look like now sapphire had full knowledge of which is but to imply that even though she was a wife there was a moment when she was supposed to break rank i don't know if i need to talk about that here but when it comes to god and when it comes to where your allegiance is i praise god this might be for robert wilson talk about that time because you you got to know that your christian your your relationship with god is so important and sacred that you got to be careful what you sign off on that is antithetical to the will of god so the bible goes out luke goes out of his way to put in the historical narrative that ananias lied and she had full knowledge now his way it gets interesting ananias dies you know and peter wasn't kind about it he said you're about to take your last breath um oh by the way you might want to write this down just for the sake of your knowledge the first sin recorded in the new testament within the church is in the context of giving this is the first recorded act of sin in the church and is in the context of someone being disingenuous about vesting in the kingdom what's the problem the problem was not that ananias had to give everything that wasn't a problem because peter's gonna say was it not in your control you could have gave whatever you wanted to give out of your proceeds the problem is you tried to give the impression that it was all when it was really some you wanted to lie for image and your disingenuous spirit is noted by god and you won't you won't even come to the position of repentance and god does something in the miraculous dispensation to show his disdain for that mentality he puts ananias to death as a full expression in the miraculous dispensation here's how i feel about a disingenuous heart watch this i gotta close but watch this three hours later the wife comes home and the bible goes out of his way to say and she don't know what happened she don't know ananias is dead all she knows is there's a plan and we gonna stick to the plan peter said as soon as she comes peter says listen listen peter gave a way out man he gave a way out peter said did you sell that land for such and such a price opportunity for repentance opportunity for clarity opportunity to get right with god she said yeah we did now the problem is had she known ananias died she might have had a different perspective had she seen the punishment that was enacted but she said yeah that's what we sold it for and peter said in orpheus translation 101 you fitting to join your husband and ain't none of y'all gonna get that thing you get back from god and she dies watch this and i think this is one of the major points of the text that paul said that peter excuse me that luke accentuates he said and fear came upon the whole church it's almost like god was saying did y'all see that don't play with me when it comes to your intentions because unlike any one of these human vessels i can read what's in your mind and this text stands as an example of how god feels about disingenuousness now here's the reality we don't live in a miraculous dispensation anymore god does not act that way anymore but don't you think for one moment that god overlooks or is unaware of disingenuous movement and activity and so in acts five what do you want me to see dr haywood i want you to see that part of core christianity is embracing a mindset that do nothing i have belonged to me and i am a vester in the kingdom and i'm giving from god's hand and what i refuse to do is not allow my heart to line up with my act i need my heart and my act to be on the same plane because god will not accept the act if my heart is still in the basement of hellish thinking so even though i'm doing the right act god is going to evaluate my attitude because if my attitude is not right then the act is rejected and god wants a steward a manager someone who says this is not my own while it belongs to me god is owner and that is the essence of core christianity authentic christianity in reference to the act of stewardship i need you to see if you don't get this lined up in your life it's going to be hard to practice authentic christianity you got to get to that place where you embrace don't nothing belong to you your time your finance your gift ain't none of it yours and the only thing you can do with time is spend it the only thing you can do with time is use it but it ain't never gonna be stored the only thing you can do with your finance is use it for god's glory and he allows you to use it for the provisions of your family but don't get caught up in that cause you ain't taking that with you neither and whether you like it or not somebody else fit to get your money so while you're getting overly occupied with your financial wealth and your financial building and you're not using it for god's kingdom and god's purpose be careful when you spend more money in the temporal and you miss the eternal because god will judge the measure of how much you love the eternal by what you're doing with this temporal and when you take your finances and vest it in the eternal god says your heart is in the right space and so as i close this you know i thought about how to close this a hundred different ways and i couldn't find a way to to end it on the shout so you're just gonna have to feel all of this because i know this was painful as it could be i ain't got no high point i don't i couldn't find that in the text because the text ended with and fear fell upon the whole church that's the way it ended i had no shout there i didn't have no climax nothing just god said that's where you're going to end it and and the translation for the day is going to be stop playing um that's what god's message is for the church stop playing and so let's practice authentic christianity let's get ready to sing the song of invitation i'm for real i got no climax here ain't no take off ain't no ain't no harm here ain't no hope all i got is stop playing because he is able to read the context of our hearts why don't you come now as we are about to sing the song of invitation praise the mighty name of jesus [Music] praise jesus [Music] yeah praise the mighty name of jesus lord help my heart help my heart [Music] god wants your faith for this church what a mighty good god we serve he wants my faithfulness he is a mighty good god and he's worthy he's worthy he's worthy he's worthy [Music] take my mind transform it take [Music] [Laughter] [Music] oh righteousness righteousness is what i long for righteousness is what i need righteousness righteousness is what you want from me [Laughter] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] amen stop playing great message once again from brother orpheus heywood we know that it blessed your life let's continue to focus on what we heard and enrich our lives as a result and make this world and our journey and everything better for the lord we have just a few announcements for you as we continue to get you engaged and keep you engaged so if you could just uh focus on the screen and i'll quickly talk through these announcements get your pen and paper your camera phone and let's get these notes first off we look forward to march 14th at six o'clock p.m mental health during the pandemic we're blessed to have individuals with these letters behind their names the letters mean that they have studied something so deeply that now they can bless you so don't so i don't want you to miss this and you see the discussion topics and zoom meeting ideas posted as well along with the password february 27th has already passed we're looking forward to the next mental health series by sister lisa jameson virtual mental health first aid training i know the first training was fantastic so mark your calendars limited spaces are available i believe 10 a.m to 3 30. you will be blessed as a result for all of our individuals who are continuing to look for better ways to engage in the virtual computer space which has become a great part of our reality every second wednesday after morning bible class and that will run all the way to august courtesy of sister edith king seasoned saints don't forget about every second monday four o'clock to seven o'clock p.m i believe that is going to be tomorrow to join zoom and watch a wonderful movie i believe you already have the login information we look forward to all of you having a great time in the lord let's continue to encourage all of our participants in the gard your heart mentor program they've already kicked off still not too late to register renaissanceclc.com forward slash guard heart third sunday is rapidly approaching uh for all of our we rise young adult ministry members to join dr hayward and other speakers we have featured topics that continue to be fantastic and enriching and uplifting come be a part every third sunday six o'clock p.m on zoom and for everyone else including our young adults with our bible class winter quarter that continues to go strong wednesdays at 7 00 p.m and 10 minutes after you hear amen for every single one of our worship services senior fitness class continues and continues to go well 11 15 to 12 p.m sister greta beasley she's ready for you all are welcome to attend oh so if you want to be a part of this come on and be a part if you're a senior in high school come be a part but it is especially for our beloved seasoned saints our women of faith we look forward to you tomorrow evening monday 8 45 p.m you see the id you see the passcode you see the phone number come join in a time of prayer with the prayer warriors of the women of faith and brothers you are not left out we just had a wonderful session and prayer this past thursday our next time is the 18th and if you notice we go every other thursday i think i said last week second and fourth thursday it's every other thursday so it may fall first and third second and fourth you see those dates screenshot this we have uh an access code number and we also have a zoom and we'll share that with you the next time we come around i believe that concludes all of our announcements we want to say thank you and god bless you all to all of our men look forward to the next bible shop on our first saturday in april thank you for a fantastic bible shop this past saturday just yesterday we look forward to building up those numbers and all of us being restored in jesus christ and brought closer together as a result of what we do we'll now have our closing prayer by dear elder brother robert wilson thank you we love you god bless you thank you well once again we want to say thank you dr orpheus jay hayward for a fine excellent message uh yeah we need to stop playing i think we i think we got the message i pray we have and again we just want to encourage all of renaissance family to stay encouraged by the great works and the great times that we have together to work in the lord's vineyard in this place called the renaissance church of christ continue to pray one for another continue to keep in contact one with another because it is so important that we stay connected let us all pray commerce for father in heaven we are so thankful that we've heard another powerful message from our your man servant dr orpheus j hayward we thank you father for all that was said we pray father that it has not fallen on deaf ears we pray father that we will be the people of god that you would have us to be lead guide and direct our hearts and minds to be in harmony with your will in your way we ask father that you go with us as we depart from this place we pray father to be your will you bring us back as the next appointed time for this we do ask in christ's holy righteous name amen lord we've turned our backs on you far too many times the cost of sin is too much to bear but still you paid the fine so i just don't wanna be another person in the crowd hear my prayer lord hear my battle cry and i'm so thankful for this intercession with you i feel like i've entered into heaven when i'm in your presence [Music] when i'm in your presence [Music] and lord please bless this body of your saints with your family [Music] i pray for love and abundant peace for all my enemies and i know that satan's in there somewhere sitting in the crowd [Music] [Music] is [Music]

Channel: Official Renaissance Church of Christ

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Id: s_8EiXTQkZk

Length: 127min 43sec (7663 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 07 2021