I. The selfless nature of the early church (Acts 4:32-37)
A. All things in common (Acts 2:44-45; 4:32-35; 6:1)
B. The grace of giving (Acts 4:33; 1 Corinthians 8:1-8)
C. The example of Barnabas (Acts 4:36-37)
D. Was the early church a form of communism? No! (Acts 4:32, 34; 2 Corinthians 8:2; 9:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2; Acts 12:12; 1 Timothy 6:17-19)
II. The deception of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11)
A. Their sin was deception: “You have not lied to men but to God” (Acts 5:4)
B. Attributes of God on display in this account
1. Omnipotence (Acts 5:5, 10)
2. Omnipresence (Jeremiah 23;23-24)
3. Omniscience (Acts 5:4; Jeremiah 17:9-10)
C. Punishment similar to Nadab and Abihu (Leviticus 10:1-2) – “Both make the point: God’s Word and His spokesmen must be taken seriously” (Copeland)
A. “God is our refuge and strength” (Psalm 46:1a; Philippians 4:13; Jeremiah 10:23)
B. “A very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1b)
C. God alleviates our fear (Psalm 46:2-3; 2 Kings 19-20)
II. God is in the midst of His people
A. “There is a river…” (Psalm 46:4)
B. “She shall not be moved” (Psalm 46:5a; 2 Corinthians 13:5)
C. Immediate help for His children… (Psalm 46:5b)
D. …against the kingdoms of this world (Psalm 46:6)
E. Assurance for those who abide in God (Psalm 46:7)
III. Demonstrations of God’s power
A. Over the forces of nature and the armies of men (Psalm 46:8-9)
B. Relax and trust Him (Psalm 46:10; Romans 13:1)
C. “The God of Jacob is our refuge” (Psalm 46:11)
A. The religious leaders were unhappy (Acts 4:1-3)
B. HOWEVER “many believed” (Acts 4:4; 2:47; 5:14; 5:42-6:1; 17:6)
II. Opposition to the early church
A. Peter and John before the council (Acts 4:5-7)
B. Peter’s answer (Acts 4:8-12; 2:36; 2:24; Psalm 118:22; Matthew 1:21; John 14:6)
C. The council’s reaction (Acts 4:13)
D. The council’s opposition (Acts 4:14-18)
E. Peter and John refused (Acts 4:19-22; 5:29)
III. The reaction of the early church to persecution
A. Praise (Acts 4:23-28)
B. Prayer for boldness (Acts 4:29-30)
C. God’s answer (Acts 4:31)
A. God is the source of righteousness (Psalm 4:1a; 1 Peter 3:12)
B. God is the source of deliverance (Psalm 4:1b)
C. God is the source of mercy (Psalm 4:1c)
II. The enemies of David
A. Sought to bring him down (Psalm 4:2a)
B. Opposing God is useless (Psalm 4:2b)
C. God will guard and keep the souls of the godly (Psalm 4:3; 145:20; 2 Thessalonians 3:3; 1 Peter 1:3-5)
III. Encouragement to turn to God
A. “Be angry” or “stand in awe” (Psalm 4:4)
B. Sacrifice (Psalm 4:5a; Romans 12:1-2)
C. Trust the Lord (Psalm 4:5b; 27:13)
D. We must pray for our enemies to come to the truth! (1 Timothy 2:1-4)
IV. With trust comes safely
A. God is good (Psalm 4:6)
B. Our happiness is based on the hope of eternal life (Psalm 4:7; Philippians 4:4)
C. We can sleep in peace (Psalm 4:8)
A. Job’s friends were “miserable comforters” (Job 16:2, 4-5)
B. We should surround ourselves with people who have our eternal interests at heart (1 Corinthians 15:33)
II. It is important to BE a good friend
A. Listen carefully (Job 21:2)
B. Bear one another’s burdens (Job 21:3; Galatians 6:2)
C. Look at the evidence (Job 21:5; Ephesians 4:29)
A. Focuses on the negative
B. Suggests we can interpret what God says however we please
C. Creates a false distance between man and his Lord
D. Even Eve adds her own prohibition – “nor shall you touch it” (cf. Genesis 2:16-17)
II. The sin (Genesis 3:6)
A. Eve was deceived (John 8:44; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; 15:33; Galatians 6:7-8; James 1:12-17)
B. Adam was not innocent – he was “with her”
III. Who is to blame? (Genesis 3:8-13)
A. Adam blamed both God and Eve (James 1:13)
B. Eve blamed Satan (1 Corinthians 10:13)
For an excellent in-depth study of the book of Genesis, I highly recommend Michael Whitworth’s The Epic of God. Purchase at this link.
A. The man’s request (Acts 3:1-7)
B. God goes above and beyond (1 Kings 3:5-14; Ephesians 3:20-21; Psalm 147:5)
II. Create an opportunity to praise God
A. The apostles refused praise (Acts 3:8-12)
B. Our good works should be seen and praise directed toward God (Ephesians 2:10; Galatians 6:10; Matthew 5:13-16)
III. Using those opportunities of praise, we should preach the gospel
A. Peter points to “the God of Abraham” (Acts 3:13)
B. Peter points to God’s “Servant Jesus” (Acts 3:13; Isaiah 53; 52:11; 42:1-4)
C. Words of comfort and hope (Acts 3:17-19)
D. We must teach our sincere religious neighbors the truth of the one body (Ephesians 4:4), the Savior of the body (Ephesians 5:23), how to enter that body (Galatians 3:27)
A. Compare with Genesis 1:1
B. “…was the Word” (Proverbs 8:23; John 17:5; 8:53-58)
C. He was the creative agent through whom the beginning began (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16-17)
II. “And the Word was with God” (John 1:1)
A. Not “in” or “from,” but “with”
B. “…and the Word was God” (Philippians 2:6; Judges 13:19-22; Joshua 5:13-15; Revelation 5:12)
III. “The Word became flesh” (John 1:14)
A. He chose to become flesh so He could redeem mankind (Philippians 2:7; John 1:5)
B. We must shine as lights (John 1:6-9; Matthew 5:16)
C. Show the love of Christ (Philippians 2:8; Romans 5:6-11)
A. Love for God (John 14:15; 1 John 5:3)
B. Complete love (Mark 12:29)
II. “Be not conformed to this world”
A. The world will pull you away from God (James 4:4; 1 John 2:15-17)
B. Warnings against greed (Matthew 6:24, 33; 1 Timothy 6:6-10)
C. Sinful attitudes and activities must be avoided (2 Timothy 3:1-7; Galatians 5:19-21; 1 Peter 4:1-4)
III. “But be transformed by the renewing of your mind”
A. Stop serving the evil one, start serving the Just One (Romans 6:16-18)
B. The blessing of spiritual protection (1 John 4:4; John 10:27-29; Hebrews 10:24-25; 1 Thessalonians 5:11)
C. The blessing of joy (Philippians 4:4, 6-7; James 1:2-3)
But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized. (Acts 8:12)
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