Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine, O one of fortiest of glory divine. Bearer of salvation, purchase of God, Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood. 

This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, yes, this is my song, Praising my Savior all the day long. 

Perfect submission, perfect delight, Visions of rapture now burst on my sight. Angels descending, they bring from above Echoes of mercy, whispers of love. 

Perfect submission, all is at rest, I in my Savior am happy and blessed. Watching and waiting, looking above, Filled with His goodness, lost in His love. 

This is, oh, this is, this is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, yes, this is my song, Praising my Savior all the day, all the day, all the day long. 

Thank you, Terry, for that good song. Lots of good songs this morning. All kinds of encouragement and doctrine in the hymns that we sang. 

We're going to be looking at Acts chapter 5, verses 1-11, although we're really not going to look much at Acts 5 this morning, because I believe the message in this text, the message and application for us, is found in one word at the beginning of chapter 5, the word, but. 

Because there's a major contrast between Acts 5, 1-11, and all that we've been studying in the first four chapters, and particularly the last part of chapter 4. 

So I'd like for you to turn to Acts 4, verse 32, and we're going to read these few verses and spend the bulk of the message looking at why the early church was able to be fruitful and faithful, and how it is that Ananias and Sapphira came to the point that they did. 

So you'll excuse me for this abnormality of not going word by word, verse by verse in Acts 5-1, but I think you'll understand the message when we're through. 

Acts 4, 32, Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul. Neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. 

And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. Nor was there anyone among them who lacked, for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold and laid them at the apostles' feet. 

And they distributed to each as anyone had need. And Joseph, who was also named Barnabas by the apostles, which is translated son of encouragement, a Levite of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet. 

Well, last time we were together, we looked at this amazing description of the early church. In fact, we've seen this truth of the commonality, the one accord of the believers, the central focus on the resurrected Christ since the day of Pentecost. 

It's been an amazing time of tremendous growth and fellowship and focus on Jesus and dependence on His provision. As God was working mightily through these faithful believers. 

And I think the key thing to notice is that they were all genuine. They were all completely set on Jesus Christ and the purpose He had for them to go into all the world and preach the gospel. 

Nothing would stand in the way of that privilege, of that purpose, of coming together for fellowship, for the teaching of the apostles' doctrine. Nothing would keep them from a steady dependence on God and His grace and power as they were continually praying and looking to Him. 

And no one would stop them from sharing the good news message of Jesus Christ, preaching Christ crucified and risen again wherever they went. 

There were no systems. There were no intricate plans or five-step methods. There were no programs. There wasn't even a building. No churches per se, but only the church fulfilling its mission in this world. 

Jesus was first, my friends. Not houses, not lands, not power or prestige or politics or the approval of men, but the simplicity that is in Christ. A daily abiding relationship with Jesus, trusting Him, depending on Him, rejoicing in Him, and preaching the truth to every creature.

And a central thing that jumps out at me as we read about the success of this early church is that they were genuine. They were living out who they were. 

And what we see is self-sacrifice. What we see is agape love. What we see is the great desire and love placed into these believers by the Holy Spirit and the manifestation of who they now were in Christ and the fruit that was produced by the power of Christ's life in them one day at a time by faith. 

But... And we see that word, the first word of our text this morning, sitting in contrast to all that we have seen in these first four chapters, sitting in contrast to all that we just said about the early church is an event that happens in chapter 5, beginning with the word, but. 

But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles' feet. 

But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? 

While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God. 

Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last, so great fear came upon all those who heard these things. 

And the young men arose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him. 

Now it was about three hours later when his wife came in, not knowing what had happened, and Peter answered her, Tell me whether you sold the land for so much? She said, Yes, for so much. 

Then Peter said to her, How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? 

Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out. 

Then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last, and the young men came in and found her dead, and carrying her out, buried her by her husband. 

So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things. 

I've given you three points this morning. Be genuine in preaching. Be genuine in your position. And be genuine in your practice. And we see some sub-points there as well. 

I remember when I first moved up to this area, after returning to Indiana for a couple of years after college, it was June of 1997. And I remember that year, Bobby and I were driving up Highway 51 and there was still snow in the side ditches and no leaves on the trees in June. 

It was after those record winters we'd had. And I looked over at her as we came up through Manitoushe waters, and I said, Are you sure we're doing the right thing? I've often wondered about that, but I think we did. 

We'd taken a caretaking job out at Crab Lake. Bobby's dad has gotten us this job because his co-worker, Guy Folsom, was moving up to Irwin Township in the UP and was leaving the position vacant. 

I remember Bobby's dad telling us when we were going to meet Guy and see the place out on South Crab Lake Road, that Guy, he's a very nice guy, he says, but he's really religious. 

When we met him down here at Dietz's gas station that day, he instructed us to follow him to the house where we would be living, and we followed him out there, and we just kept going and going and going out into the wilderness, and I thought, Man, maybe he's taking us out here to kill us. 

But it was a wonderful place there on Crab Lake, and we enjoyed our time there very much, and in the course of getting trained and settled in there, Guy began witnessing to us, and he continued witnessing to us, and he started giving us tapes from this little church up the road and a preacher named Krenz. 

The message was completely foreign to me. I'd grown up in a works-righteous, man-centered religion filled with pomp and circumstance and rites and rituals meant to help you earn your way to heaven. I'd never heard the Gospel in my 26 years on this earth. 

I was resistant at first, being filled with pride, but after getting to know Guy and listening to several sermons and reading the Bible, Guy finally talked me into going to a Bible study up in Montreal, which is not in Canada, by the way, but just up near Hurley, at Brian and Bess Maksinoski's home. 

I really didn't want to go. You see, I'd been taught all my life in the Roman Catholic Church that anything outside that church was voodoo. And a home Bible study? Well, I was pretty skeptical about that. 

On the way into the house, Guy turned to me and he said, now, as only Guy can do, they'll probably want you to sing a solo, he said. So I turned around and I headed back towards the truck, and he said, no, no, I'm just kidding, it'll be fine, don't worry about it. 

So we went in and I went back, and I went back, and eventually my work brought me to the Hurley area, and I moved to Pence, and just up the road from Montreal we lived, and I attended that study every other week, as often as they had it. 

And do you know what I found? I found something I'd never seen, never experienced, never even heard of in my life. I found people that were genuine, who were open and loving and sincere, who didn't want anything from me. 

Religion had always been such a hypocrisy. Everyone pretending to be something they were not, trying to be better than everyone else, comparing themselves with themselves and among themselves, and always lowering the bar to a point where they felt they could meet it. 

The world had always been about number one. Every man was always looking to others to see what they could do for him. Never had I met truly genuine people. People truly exhibiting agape love. 

And never had I been exposed to truth like I found in the Word of God. This is what struck me so forcefully about this little group of people up in the Northwoods simply meeting together to fellowship, to pray, to study the Word of God, and to preach the resurrected Christ. 

It was so different than everything I'd ever known, and chiefly because it was genuine. It was real. They weren't perfect. They weren't without struggle or difficulty or pain or sorrow or sin. But they were real. 

And what they wanted first and foremost was for others to know Jesus, to have eternal life through faith in Him. And they were willing to give of themselves and their time and their resources to help a prideful, vile, self-righteous sinner like me come to faith in Jesus Christ and into fellowship with them. 

We as the church of Jesus Christ must first and foremost be genuine, be real. We must be who we are for the purpose that Christ has us here on this earth. 

And the first place that we must be genuine is in our preaching, in our message. Our doctrine must be true and it must be clear according to the Word of God. 

And this is what we see in the early church. A focus on Jesus in their preaching. His death, burial, and resurrection. We must never compromise our doctrine. We must speak the truth clearly at every given opportunity. 

This is what we've seen from Peter thus far in the book of Acts. Turn back to chapter 2 with me please. Let's just revisit Peter's preaching. 

Acts 2, verse 22. Men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know. 

Him being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified and put to death. Whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that He should be held by it. 

Turn over to chapter 3 at verse 12. Peter again, given an opportunity to preach. Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us as though by our own power or godliness we have made this man walk? 

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate when He was determined to let him go. 

But you denied the Holy One and the just and asked for a murderer to be granted to you and killed the Prince of life whom God raised from the dead of which we are witnesses. 

And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given Him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. 

Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance as did also your rulers. But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. 

Repent, therefore, and be converted that your sins may be blotted out so that the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. 

Look at chapter 4 and verse 8. It says, Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, Rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man by what means he has been made well, let it be known to you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. 

This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone. Nor is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. 

We see that the central focus, the absolute fundamental element to their preaching, was the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

Christ crucified and risen again was the salient message that they wanted all men to hear. They were clear. They were consistent and genuine in their doctrine and their preaching. 

And this was the doctrine they gathered together daily to hear, to reinforce in their minds, to renew their minds. 

And we see also that not only was their doctrine, their message clear and genuine, but their motive was right as well. They were not only fixed on the right message, but they were willing to give everything they had to further that message. 

Nothing stood in the way of this mission. They gave houses and lands and possessions, selling them and laying the proceeds at the apostles' feet. Because their motive was love. Their motive was thankfulness. 

Their motive was for lost men to be saved and nothing else really mattered. Paul tells us that we must speak the truth. That they did. But he also tells us that we must speak that truth in love. And they had that right too, my friends. 

Their motive was agape love which had been poured out into their hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to them. 

So we see that their preaching was genuine in doctrine and in motive. And next we see that the fruit being produced through them was not just random, not just out of their will or determination, but it had a basis in truth, in genuine truth concerning their position. 

We won't spend a lot of time on this, but I want to relate it to the contrast that we see between chapter 4 and chapter 5, between sincerity and genuineness and hypocrisy. 

We've been studying the amazing preaching of Peter in these first chapters of Acts. The powerful, Christ-centered, resurrection-focused message that Peter proclaimed fearlessly. 

I'd like for you to turn back to Matthew 16 with me please. Matthew 16 at verse 21. 

Peter had just made the wonderful profession that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God. And after that in verse 21, it says that from that time, Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and He must be killed and be raised the third day. 

Look at Peter's response in verse 22. It says, then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, far be it from You, Lord, this shall not happen to You. 

Then He turned and said to Peter, get behind Me, Satan. You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but of the things of men. 

Peter's view of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ had drastically changed between Matthew 16 and Acts 2, wouldn't you say? What happened? 

Jesus said that Peter was fixed on the things of men. He was mindful of the things of men, of political deliverance, of power, of reigning. But in Acts 2, we see a man, a new creation, a new covenant believer who is fixed not on the things of men, but on Jesus Christ crucified. 

On the resurrected Lord. After Pentecost and the powerful work of the Holy Spirit, the beginning of the church and the implementation of the new covenant promises, we see a man whose position has changed. 

Who he is has changed. And therefore, how he thinks and how he acts has changed. This, my friends, foundationally, is what I believe is greatly lacking in the church today. The truth of who I am in Christ and therefore, how I should live.

Turn over to Romans 6. Because it's been a while since we've been to Romans 6. 

Romans 6, verse 1. Let's just read a few verses. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not. 

How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized that is placed into Christ were placed into His death? 

Therefore, we were buried with Him through baptism into death that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, we also should walk in newness of life. 

For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection. 

Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him that the body of sin, that is the body, the flesh controlled by indwelling sin might be done away with or rendered powerless in order that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 

For he who has died has been freed from sin. Paul gives us some amazing profound truths here about who we are. That having been placed into Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, united to Him, we have died to sin. 

Our old man that was dominated by indwelling sin in Adam has been crucified with Christ for the express purpose that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 

We are now freed from the controlling, dominating power of indwelling sin in our lives and are now free to live in obedience to Christ through faith. But did you notice the emphasis of Paul in this text? 

Verse 3, do you not know? Verse 6, knowing this. My friends, we must first know. And this was the purpose for the continual daily coming together for the apostles' teaching, for their doctrine. 

They were in the Word. They were receiving the Word of God. And this is what we must do as well in order to know the truth. There are so many lies. So many misleading teachings outside and within the church today. 

And so many times that we do not know the truth. And if we do not know the truth, how can we ever hope to believe the truth and apply it in our lives? We must first know, as Paul says in Romans 6. 

And knowing, then we can remember. Having hidden the Word of God in our hearts, we can remember His truth in the course of our daily lives. 

And then we can choose to reckon that truth. To believe that truth. Romans 6.11, Paul says, we must reckon. We must count up the facts. 

The truth of God's Word concerning who we are. What is true because of our salvation in Christ. Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

My friends, we must know. Through study, through sound, verse by verse, expository preaching, we must know and we must remember and we must reckon. 

This is what the believers in Acts 4 were doing. The simplicity of Christ. The amazing power of Jesus Christ in them. Living His life through them as they trusted Him and believed Him. 

There was nothing beyond that. They were genuine in their practice. Their outward acts matched the reality of who they were inwardly. 

Because they were continually renewing their minds to the truth and presenting themselves to God for His purpose and His power. 

We tend to like to make things complicated in our minds, in our living, in our churches. We tend to like to look to the wisdom of men, to our own ideas and works and accomplishments. 

It seems we always tend back toward that way. As I study the early church in the book of Acts, I don't see a lot of complicated ideas and systems and wisdom and craftiness of men. 

I see people who were fixed on the simple idea that they were here to preach Jesus. To make the Gospel available to men. To persuade men to come to faith in Jesus through the preaching and teaching of the truth. 

And they knew that they needed each other for fellowship, for doctrine. Reminding, renewing, encouraging one another. In order that they might be built up and strengthened and emboldened to go out and preach that truth day after day in the course of their lives. 

To see the love of Christ poured out through them to other men. This is what we need. And I speak to myself here, my friends. 

We don't need books and schemes and marketing. We need the power of God, of the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ in and through our lives that comes from a simple, abiding, humble dependence on Him. 

We need to meet together to study, to fellowship, to encourage, and to build up and stir one another up to good works. We need the teaching of the Word. 

We need to hear it preached and taught. We need to study it ourselves every day. And we need to remember it, to reckon it, to renew our minds to it continually. 

And then we need to yield ourselves to His power. To trust in Him to do it. To abide in Him so that He can work through us. 

They met together every day. They continued in the apostles' doctrine. They came together eagerly to hear it, to learn it, to soak it up, to believe it, to apply it. 

How filled with apathy I so often am. How little time I spend in the Word. How easy it is to skip a Bible study, to miss church, to fail to open my Bible in the morning, at evening, or at noon. 

I would not say or think that I don't need the Lord. That I don't need Jesus every day. But that's so often how I live. Not desperately needing. 

Looking forward to time and fellowship and teaching. Not sensing my complete inability that without Him, I can do nothing. Not renewing my mind to His Word. 

Remembering the truths of His Word and reckoning them and then depending on Him in prayer and witnessing. 

My friends, this is the only way that our practice can be genuine. That we can live in consistency with who we are. 

I must sense my great and desperate need for Jesus every hour. Now at this point, four-fifths of the way through the message, you might be saying, I thought you were going to preach on Acts 5 today. 

Well, I am, but it's taken a while to lay a foundation that brings us to the but in verse 1 of chapter 5. To a contrast. 

Keep in mind, all that we've just seen in Acts 4 and in the fruitful, abounding church in those first four chapters. Think about the reason they were so fruitful. 

How they were fixed on and living out the Christ life through the simplicity of abiding in Him. Immersing themselves in the truth. Remembering it, reckoning it, renewing their minds to it and trusting Him and His power to live it out in word and in deed. 

And then see the contrast in chapter 5. But, against, contrary to all this, a certain man named Ananias with Sapphira, his wife, sold a possession. 

And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles' feet. 

But Peter said, "'Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? 

While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God.' 

Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last, and great fear came upon all those who heard these things. 

And the young men arose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him." 

As I read this passage and studied it, the question came to my mind, how is it that Ananias, along with his wife, came to this point? 

What was the issue here? What was the sin that led to death, as John tells us in 1 John 5, that there's a sin that leads to death for the believer? 

In this case, what was that sin? Was it that they were required to give all that they received from selling the land? Is that the problem, that God wanted them to give all and they had anything short of it was sin? No. 

Peter makes that clear in verse 4. "'While it remained, was it not your own? And after you sold it, was the money not in your own control? 

Couldn't you do whatever you wanted with it?' There's no requirement that Ananias and Sapphira sell the land at all. 

There was no requirement they give anything at all. The new covenant principle of giving is not a tithe. There's not a set prescription for how much we are to give, 10 percent or 20 percent or 50 percent. 

There's no law governing giving in the New Testament. But rather the principle that Paul lays out in 2 Corinthians 9, "'Let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver.'" 

Paul says, have a council meeting with God. Seek God's will. What would He have you to give? And give what you purpose in your heart willingly. That may be any amount, but there's no law or certain percentage that governs our giving in the new covenant. 

So the sin was not that he didn't give all the money or that he didn't give enough. The land was his to do with as he pleased and after he sold it, the money was his to do with as he pleased. 

He could keep it all, he could give part, he could give all. This was not the problem. Again, we have to set this in the context and see the contrast. 

Back in chapter 4 in the previous chapters, we see that the Holy Spirit was working mightily through the faithful believers, the ones walking in the Spirit, being filled with the Spirit. 

And as a result of this, one of the mighty works of the Spirit through the believers was that those who had possessions were selling them to meet the needs of the very poor among them. We see this collectively at the end of chapter 4, and we even see it individually in the person of Barnabas, the son of encouragement. 

You see, they were all fixed on Jesus and His will and purpose and power in them. And they were willingly, joyfully, cheerfully sharing all that they had because it was their heart and because it furthered the gospel of Christ. 

But that was not the case with Ananias. Ananias' problem was that he had ceased looking to Jesus. He had forgotten who he was. He didn't remember. He didn't reckon. 

And he had ceased to renew his mind to the truth and yield to Jesus Christ. His purpose in this became his own. His own work for his own exaltation and his own glory. 

Ananias and Sapphira committed the sin of hypocrisy. They lied to God. They represented their work as a wonderful, powerful work of the Holy Spirit in them, as had been the case in the church up to this point and specifically concerning Barnabas in the immediate context. 

But the truth was that they were seeking the glory for themselves. They were seeking the approval of men and all the while seeking their own gain. 

Keeping back some of the money for themselves while pretending to give it all. They became envious. They became covetous of the joy and glory and praise that was occurring among those who gave and those who received, such as must have been the case with Barnabas and the other believers. 

But you see, Barnabas and the others were giving to the glory of God. They were praising God. They were rejoicing in what God was doing and they were meeting each other's needs. 

While Ananias wanted people to glory in him and what he had done. And thus he put on the mask of hypocrisy and pretended to be something he was not and to do something that he did not for his own exaltation. 

He lied to God and represented his work as the work of the Holy Spirit and for this, God took him out. He killed him. He removed him from the fellowship for the sake of the purity and the witness of the church. 

And in the following verses we see the same fate awaited his wife as she too lied to the Holy Spirit and falsely represented the work. 

I was thinking for myself, how often am I a hypocrite? How often do I do things or represent myself as something I'm not in order to have men think well of me? 

Maybe more often than I'd like to admit. We see in verse 11 the result of this. Great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things. 

We see this kind of thing as I mentioned before in 1 John 5 where God will remove a believer from this earth because of sin that does grave damage to the body or to the witness of the church. 

God is serious about sin in the church. Much of the church is not serious about sin in the church today. But God is serious about sin in the church. 

Few churches are willing to preach on sin, to deal with sin, to discipline those who sin willfully, publicly, unrepentantly. They're unwilling to discipline for the sake of the purity and the witness of the church as God prescribes in His Word. 

But my friends, these things are important. And we should have a healthy fear, a reverence for God and His purpose and desire for us to live a holy life and to show the transforming power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives for our witness and for His glory. 

What I really want you to see here for application for us in this text is the great contrast that exists between chapter 4 and chapter 5. 

How easy it is for us to slip out of a trusting, abiding life in Jesus Christ. How essential and necessary it is for us to keep our eyes focused on Jesus, to spend time in fellowship with other believers, to study and read and know His Word, His truth, to believe Him, to trust Him, to depend on Him one day at a time because when we neglect these things, when we cease to read, to study, to remember, to know, to reckon, to believe, to renew and to trust and live by faith in the Son of God, then we're in trouble, my friends. 

We can coast along in our own power. We can pretend and play the hypocrite for a time. But sin is crouching at the door. And its desire is to rule over us, to control us and cause our practice to be one contrary to who we are and to damage our effectiveness, our fruitfulness for the gospel and for the glory of God. 

As many of you know, we have sheep on our farm. And over and over and over, they are an object lesson for me. 

I believe there's a reason that Jesus likens us to sheep. Because sheep are so needy. They're so vulnerable, so prone to getting themselves into trouble. 

Sometimes it's comical. Sometimes it's trivial. But sometimes it's deadly. Friday morning, Ashley called me in a panic. She was farm sitting for a friend of ours who also has many sheep. 

And she'd gone out to do the chores that morning and found one of the ewes hanging upside down from the hay feeder. This poor lamb had climbed up on top of the feeder and got her leg down through the squares in the hog panel and had fallen, snapping her leg in a compound fracture and was hanging upside down from the feeder. 

Ashley had gotten her out and put her in a separate pen and when we went in to attempt to splint the leg, I took hold of the hock and the foot and I felt that everything below the break was frozen solid. 

There's nothing that could be done. So we put her down. My friends, I could tell you a million stories about sheep. 

I saw an English documentary about a sheep farmer and in this documentary he said, a sheep's number one mission from the time it is born is to die. Sheep are needy, my friends. 

They're constantly, continually vulnerable. And if they wander away from their shepherd, if they are not under constant and immediate care of the shepherd, they will get into trouble. 

Sometimes life-threatening trouble. There's a reason that Jesus calls us sheep. Because He is our shepherd. And we need Him. Every moment. Every hour. 

We must be under the constant care and total dependence on our shepherd. On Jesus. And the way we do that is to seek Him. To be under the continual teaching of His Word and continual study on our own of His truth. 

Renewing our minds, knowing the truth and choosing to reckon it, choosing to believe not what I feel, not what I think, not what seems right to me, but what He says. 

And then look to Him and trust Him to live His life out through me for His glory. If I get distracted from this simplicity, this Christ-in-me life, if I wander away from my shepherd and I put my focus on me and what I can do or what the world offers, then I will find myself wandering, lost, ineffective and fruitless as to the very purpose for which God has saved me, for which He has left me on this earth, to be a witness for Him, to be an ambassador for Christ, to bring men to faith in Jesus through the preaching of the gospel and to bring glory to Him through an abiding, holy life by His grace and power working in me. 

This is the lesson for us in the early chapters of Acts. And in contrast, it's a lesson for us in Acts 5 concerning Ananias and Sapphira. 

Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we're so thankful that Jesus is our shepherd. He's our Savior. He's our friend. Father, we thank You for the salvation that we have through faith in Him. 

We thank You that our life day by day in this world is an abiding life, a life of faith in Jesus, that we live by faith in Him. 

And thank You that we can trust You to work out Your will by Your power as we just depend on You and need You and seek You. Help us to be witnesses. 

Help us to see the power of the Holy Spirit working through us to bring You glory like we see here in the book of Acts. And help us, Lord, to keep from sin, to keep our eyes on Jesus, to keep our eyes off of ourselves, to not be enamored with the things of the world, but to be fully satisfied and immersed in the truth of Your Word, trusting You and believing You. 

It's in Jesus' name we pray.