IF IT IS FROM GOD

EMPOWERMENT Series (3) on Book of Acts
(Acts 4:32 – 5:42)
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The church had “great power” (4:33) This simply means that God was exerting His power in saving lost souls, that He was exerting His Power through ordinary people like you and me to witness boldly, clearly, and lovingly.

The church had “great grace” upon them. (4:33) God’s approval was upon them. His smile was upon them. They were doing what He had called them to do. And because of that God continued to supply them with everything they needed.

If the work is of God there will be “great power and much grace!” (v33)… not just power; but POWER and GRACE!

HOW DO YOU KNOW IF A MOVEMENT IS FROM GOD? HOW DO YOU FLOW WITH THE MOVE OF THE SPIRIT?

Three signs: GAP

1. GENEROSITY (4:34-37)
There is generosity. After the church saw the empty tomb, & became excited about the resurrected Lord, the first thing that happened was that they became generous. They were radical in their giving. They were generous with their stuff. They were liberal with all of their possessions. As a result, there were no needy persons among them. Because Jesus is alive, a new community of people is formed—people who demonstrate the reality and power of the risen Christ in their life together. Real life. Abundant life.

To some Acts 4 sounds a little bit socialism or wealth redistribution. None of it was forced or demanded. Having everything in common was a choice of their own; the sharing of possessions here is entirely voluntary! This wasn’t an early form of Christian socialism.

Great churches are made up of great individuals, people like Barnabas. He was extremely generous. The early church was a thriving, growing, vibrant community because they had learned the secret of self-sacrifice.

2. AUTHENTICITY (5:1-11)
The names Ananias and Sapphira are a contradiction of their natures - Ananias means “God is Gracious” and Sapphira means “beautiful.” They saw the approval that Barnabas received and craved it. But their hearts were wrong and selfish. The problem wasn’t that they didn’t give everything, but that they pretended to give everything while holding on to a lot of it.

Thus, they lied and became hypocrites.

God took their lives to show that at this early stage this was unacceptable and that He wanted the church to be pure. Ananias and Sapphira weren’t just lying to the apostles, they were lying to God. Ananias and Sapphira lied because they wanted to impress the rest of the church.

Most of us have some of Ananias in us, which is the desire to be thought better off than we really are.

“Half of the misery in the world comes from trying to look, instead of trying to be, what one is not!”
(George McDonald)

We all face the temptation to try to be what we aren’t: some might try to create the impression that they are people of great prayer. Some might try to make others think they’ve got it all together as a Christian.

Be A Genuine Person, a person of Integrity. What is integrity? Here are some possible definitions: What I say, what I do, and what I am all matches up. When I am the same in public and in private. When my word can be taken as a guarantee. The inside and the outside of me are the same.

God is not impressed with outward appearance. (Verses 1-2) God is not impressed with our works. God is calling you and I to be a person of INTEGRITY. One who doesn’t fake who they are. One who takes sin as seriously as God does. One who walks with such authenticity that people know they are real. And the good news is: YOU can become that person! If you want to be a person of integrity, this is the way it’s done: Develop the “fear of the Lord.” (:11) The fear of the Lord is respect for God that makes me hate and avoid evil. Proverbs 8:13; 16:16

John McArthur states well the church current situation, “The failure of churches to preach holy living, and to discipline those who don’t live that way, allows sinners and hypocrites to remain in the church, convoluting its direction, sapping its power, robbing it of purity and marring its testimony.”

We don’t need some weak, watered down, powerless message of prosperity and we don’t need a “feel good” message either. We need a message of the power of deliverance and the power of conviction against sin. We need a message of death to self and of being born again into a new man that is full of the Holy Ghost and Power!

3. PASSION (5:12-42)
The disciples were passionate for the Lord. They got flogged. Luke mentions it almost in passing, but this must have been a painful and traumatic episode. And what is their reaction? They weren’t masochists. They didn’t enjoy that suffering. But they realized that Jesus Christ had suffered much more for them. They rejoiced that they could suffer a little for him. They also realized, that through suffering, God was doing something significant in their lives.

Suffering and hardship build Christ-like character.

The disciples were passionate for the lost. The message of Jesus Christ is spreading rapidly in Jerusalem as passionate spirit-empowered witnesses shared the good news with the lost – daily!

Successful Christians and churches will make waves, and the world and Satan will retaliate with persecution. No man can stop us from proclaiming the gospel. No stop to the spread of the gospel, not even in countries where Christians are being persecuted and killed. In fact, persecution promotes preaching, and we should never be ashamed of proclaiming the gospel. Because it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes.

Nothing can stop the church in Action! The world can’t stop us! The devil can’t stop us! (Matt 16:18). Nothing can stop us when we are willing to care for people and when we are winning people to Christ!

G-A-P PEOPLE, generous, authentic, passionate people are UNSTOPPABLE!

The theme of Acts is the unstoppable Gospel. The steamroller of the Gospel. Nothing can stop it: Persecution can’t; prison can’t; shipwreck can’t; snakebite can’t. Not even murder can. That is the greatest proof of all that God is in this movement. Because God is unstoppable. And God’s sovereign plans are unstoppable (5:38-39).