 So, we were talking about the early church and their generosity, so anything that you want to add about this sharing and caring which you see in the early church, boldness Kiran says, so they were bold enough to share their things with others, similar to how they preach and teach. Okay, good. Alright, so any thoughts about giving to others in the church because here you see the extent of the generosity where people are, they are selling their possessions and giving to others, so should we be doing the same thing? What is the right way of giving to others? Okay, so love, sharing the Gospel. I'm asking about giving material things to people, so how should we go about doing it? Here you notice that believers were even selling their own possessions, so is that how we should do it? Okay, fine. Good thoughts there. Okay, give hum. Yes. Yes, Thomas. They sold everything and put it under the feet of the apostles, but that thing is shared equally with everyone and the Word of God says there is no one in need and we can see in some missionaries, they sold all the things and given to the poor and everything and they went for as a missionaries. We can see in the history like that. When we led by the spirit of God, when somebody fell in need, we can do the help in our ability or in our strength. That scenario is completely different in all the churches because they live together and they share together and they, but in this sanctuary, I think quite difficult because everybody has their own private life like in those days. I don't know exactly the standing is like that. We can give as the spirit led. Yes. Yes, thank you. Thank you, Thomas. So you're saying it's different like they had things in common, they gave for the needs of those who did not have anything to the extent of selling their own possessions. So you see, there's nothing wrong to go to that level of generosity, but we must understand the context. Okay, the reason is today if we tell our believers as pastors, we tell them, okay, there is this need in the church and we want you to give to the church. You just put the money at our feet and you can sell your things and give it to us. So we don't instruct them like that because there are, excuse me, additional scriptures that later on you would see Paul writing. Paul wrote to the Thessalonian church. Paul wrote to Timothy and he added some pointers there. So he told Timothy, when you give to somebody in the church, you should be discerning. You should identify the needy people. See, later again in Acts chapter six, we will see there were widows. Okay, widows, those days they did not have many privileges. So the church wanted to meet their need. So you should look at the needy people. It's not like you just randomly give people. So Paul instructs Timothy. The you must truly discern the needy people. He talks about how if there is somebody you can work and you can support yourself then that should be encouraged. Okay, so like don't just simply give because then what will you do? You're actually making them dependent on the church and that is not our intention. So Paul writes to Timothy. Okay, there are scriptures for all this where he says that, you know, if somebody can work then let him work. Let him not eat the, you know, the bread of idleness. It's not good. Then he also points out and he says that those who are supported, if in some way they can return back to the church, that also would be good. He adds that, you know, those who have right model conduct, conduct those kind of people, you help, you give them support and that the church should meet their most basic need, right? Because the whole point is there is a need and so we are meeting that need. We are in no way wanting to make the people dependent on us. So all this is added later in the New Testament scriptures. So for us to push the church and say that, you know, your people have to give and sell your possessions and give, it depends. It depends on the circumstance, the situation and all that and giving it interesting it to the church, giving to the church. You know, there are a lot of other scriptures also about, you know, how you sow into a place that feeds you and then that church will take responsibilities to worship of the resources that are given to it and deal wisely with it. So when we give, even to the church, all these things come into play. So like the early church, if we just simply plainly take what we are seeing here and we say, no, this is how a Christian community should be, share everything, you know, anybody can come and stay in your house. It's not exactly like that. So we must understand the concept of the kind of generosity that the early church displayed and the reasons why it displayed that kind of generosity. So just some additional thoughts there. So now we've understood that they are living in community and they were doing life in the fear of God and beautiful features within the early church, boldness, one accord, prayer, generosity, unity, sharing. Wonderful things we are seeing. God's presence is truly there and also the supernatural is being manifested. There are signs, wonders, miracles, people are being added to the church. What an exciting time for people to see and experience all these things. Now, when this is taking place in the church, remember earlier we used the word called revival and we said, wow, it's like revival because God is working, God is at work and that is so evident in the early church. Now, what else happens when the church is in revival? We see the example of a couple and this couple is Ananayas and Safaira. They also wanted to pitch in what was going on in the church and they wanted to serve the people who did not have funds. So what did they do? Husband and wife, they decided that they will sell their possession. And from the possession, they kept little bit of the money with themselves. Both were aware of it and a certain part they gave it to the apostles. Now, we read that when they came and they gave it to the apostles, Peter rebukes Ananayas. What does he say? He says, Ananayas verse 3, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? Okay, so Peter is rebuking Ananayas. Is it because Ananayas didn't give the whole portion to the apostles? Well, we know that nobody was instructed to give a certain amount of money. So it's likely that people gave whatever they could. If you see, even in the Old Testament, when God instructs people to bring their resources for the construction of the temple, they're told to give what they can. So obviously, even in this case, I don't think Ananayas had a certain amount of money that he needed to give to the apostles. So it was totally discretion. But it seems like he did something wrong. Maybe something like he gave the apostles money, but he pretended like he gave all the money. Like I sold all the possessions and I gave you all the money. But we know scripture says that he kept back some proceeds. So because he had been unfaithful, that's why the Rebuke comes in. And notice, Peter has no way of knowing what Ananayas has done. But Peter rebukes him. How is that possible? Peter does not even know what Ananayas has done. He has kept back a portion of the money. How did Peter know? What do you think? Anyone? Okay, Kiran says Holy Spirit. So how Holy Spirit? Kiran, you're right. It's Holy Spirit only. But can you be more specific? Very good. So Kiran is saying Holy Spirit reveals things. Very good. So if you recall, 1 Corinthians 12 talks about the nine gifts of the Spirit. So one of those gifts is word of knowledge. Word of knowledge is you get a piece of information which you cannot naturally know. So Peter did not know what Ananayas did. But Holy Spirit revealed to his heart that, hey, this person, he is pretending like he's giving the whole money, but he has kept behind something in his house. So that is how Peter knew it. And he says, Satan has filled your heart to lie. So obviously, there is a deceptive work that Ananayas is trying to do. And that is why Peter is saying, I know, I know what you're doing. And this can happen when people are more concerned about their reputation to look godly before the people. But actually, heart is far away from God. Jesus rebuked people like that because that is hypocrisy. You want to see something before people, but actually something else is going on within us. But God knows all things. God sees our hearts. So God knew Ananayas' heart. The act was a generous act. The act was a righteous act, but the heart was far away from generosity or righteousness. And that Holy Spirit knew. So Peter rebukes Ananayas. And notice here, Peter says, you have lied to whom? To the church or to the apostles? No. He says, you have lied to the Holy Spirit. So you know, whatever, like it says, right? Whatever you do, you do it unto the Lord. So when we are doing righteous acts, it's unto the Lord as worship. Even when we are sinning, it's against God, isn't it? So that is what Peter is saying. You have lied not to the church. You have lied to the Holy Spirit and you have kept back part of the price of the land for yourself. So while when Peter said that, what happened? And he also adds, he says, whatever remained, it was yours only. 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. So he is saying, you could have given up whatever you decided in your heart. That's not the problem. But the problem here is that he is trying to mislead the people by pretending like he sold the land and he is giving all the possessions to the church, which God knew and by the word of knowledge, Peter came to know and Peter is rebuking Ananias. And like if you just look at the kind of work that Ananias did here, it is comparable to what Akan, a man in the book of Joshua, did and God was very angry with him. So he also dealt in an evil way with the treasures and money and resources. So it seems like both of them had that same kind of a spirit. It was a deceptive spirit which God was not pleased with. So God always sees the heart. Actions are important but the motives of the heart are more important and remember we said the church is in revival. So one of the things that we observe when there is great grace. Great grace was upon the people of God. There's also great judgment. So what happened when Peter rebuked Ananias, verse 5, Ananias hearing these words, he just heard the rebuk. He fell down, breathed his last, meaning he died. The moment the rebuk came, he died. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things. Wow, that's so scary. So the judgment, it happened immediately for the wrong which a person had done. So we generally say this when the church is in revival as you observe in the case of the book of Acts, even judgment seems to be quicker. So yeah, so much more can be discussed about it but I think you get the picture, you get the idea and obviously Peter didn't do anything for Ananias to die but he just heard the rebuk and he just died. Like the judgment came on him so quickly and you notice here the young men they take, they arose, wrapped him up, carried him out and buried him. So because he died, he had to be buried. It was just three hours later when the wife Sapphira came in and she did not know what had happened to her husband. Then Peter, he asks her or let's see whether she tells him the truth. So he asks her and says, you tell me whether you sold the land for so much. She also lies. She says yes for so much only but what have they actually done? They sold it for this amount plus some amount but that extra amount is hidden. They have kept it for themselves. At the moment Sapphira lies again Peter rebukes and he says how is it that you have agreed together to test the spirit of the Lord. So now we know that husband and wife should, they are one flesh, they have to come into agreement for the things of God and all that but here for something sinful they both had come into agreement which did not please the Lord and that's what Peter is rebuking them and he says how come you have agreed to test the Holy Spirit, agreed together to test the Holy Spirit and he said before like or rather the people who have buried your husband right, they're at the door and they're going to carry you as well. So immediately judgment came upon Sapphira as well and we read that she too died and the same people who had gone you know in three hours they buried her husband and they came back now they had to carry Sapphira's body as well. Now when such judgment came upon the church what happened to the people? There was great fear that came upon all the church okay. What fear is this? It is the fear of God, it is the fear you know that we need to have to walk with God right. So the church understood hey it's not just the apostles who are ministering but this is the work of God. Nobody did anything to Ananias, nobody did anything to Sapphira, one rebuked, one rebuked both of them fell down and they died okay and when there is great revival we also see that judgment seems to be severe and faster okay. So that is the event that transpired because of misappropriation, you can use that term of funds, things that they did, they were not good stewards, they behaved like deceivers and can you lie to God? No, God knows, we can maybe try to cheat people but you can't cheat God and see and also you notice how a leader like Peter, he's led by the Holy Spirit, you need discernment when you're working with people okay. We don't go by the externals, in this case Ananias, Sapphira, wow everything looks perfect but Holy Spirit through the discerning of spirits through the word of knowledge, he helped Peter know the truth and not just go by how it looked on the outside okay. So that is about the judgment of Ananias and Sapphira, any thoughts or any questions about this incident that has taken place in Acts 5? Any questions that you want to put forth? So what do you feel hearing what happened? Okay Harin says it's scary, yeah. So you see we serve a righteous God okay and we can't, the way Peter said you have lied to the Holy Spirit and even Joseph when he is attempted by Potiphar's wife, he says I can't sin against God, so the sin that we come in, it's against God, we may feel that nobody will know, who will know. So what is happening? We are moving into deception, when we go in that direction and it's very dangerous, it's very dangerous and God knew okay, even the hidden things God knows. So the lesson we can learn is always walk in the fear of God okay, not for man but for God do the right thing, do the right thing, do as the Word teaches, do as the Holy Spirit convicts right. So when we are walking in that transparency with God, we are in a safe place and in revival we notice that judgment came so quickly on the people. Yeah, so that's what happened. Now when this incident took place, you know we might feel that people in the church, how would it affect their lives? Thankfully we notice it was affected in a positive way because they understood about the power of God and how righteous, how just God is, so fear of God came upon the people. So when the right judgment is given in the church, now by judgment I don't mean people dying and all because these are all like one of things that we see but in general when there is a right ruling or the right decision, right instruction in the right direction given to the people, then what happens? People can live in the fear of God because they are living to see the righteousness of God okay, so we must continue to lead the church in the righteous direction. So when these things have happened, what else do you see happening in the church? We notice that the apostles, they did many signs and wonders among the people and again you notice that they were in one accord, how many times one accord, so unity is constantly seen in the local church. So they are together, then they were also well respected by the people outside the community because scriptures say that people esteemed them highly and the church was growing, it was thriving and a lot of people, increasingly people were added, multitude of both men and women were added to the church. Now because signs, wonders are being done by the apostles, you also notice that people who heard about the miraculous works, they wanted to reach out to these apostles for their own healing, for their own deliverance. Remember I shared the testimony about that one man who just walked in and he was so excited that wow this wonder healing happened in my life so it can happen to you and in the same way people who heard about the apostles and their works, they were excited, they wanted to come and get their quota of God's power. So we are told that people from around Jerusalem, they brought the sick, brought the sick out and even into the streets and laid them on beds and couches and we are told that Peter's shadow, when it touched the sick people, they actually got healed. And this was people in Jerusalem and from the surrounding places, these people were brought and God's power was released on them. So you see the apostles truly walking in demonstration of the power of God, the same thing that Jesus did when he was doing his ministry. I think it's Matthew 4 where you read about Jesus preaching, teaching, healing. So preaching, teaching, demonstrating, same thing the early church is doing and the apostles are doing it. And something unique here is about the shadow of Peter. So any thoughts on that? How can the shadow of somebody heal and do miracles? Can you imagine how that scene would have been that people just come and they say Peter, you just walk, don't do anything, don't pray, don't lay hands, don't do anything, you just walk enough, loved one will be healed. So how is it possible that Peter's shadow is healing people? How does it work? Have we heard of something like this before in the gospels? Okay, where have we heard? Just a little, I want to say that the Holy Spirit reveals himself to powerfully to other person, to Peter's life. So he's sad to heal the people. So you've been to say through the Holy Spirit, Peter is able to do this? Yes, maybe. Okay, sure, sure Kiran. Yeah, that's true, that's true. Anyone wants to add to that? Have you seen like things being used to heal people anywhere in scripture? We can see in Jesus' ministry where the women touched the hem of the government of the Jesus and we can see in Jesus' pattern on the floor and into the mud and very to the eyes and the anointing flows upon a person on each and every part means the anointing is so powerful when carried that much, even the shadows heal the people. Excellent, thanks Thomas for that and also Kannan is adding he shares the same example, yeah Jesus garments, good. And in the New Testament you find other places where you have oil, you lay hands in James he says pray with anointed oil and that will heal the sick. So we observe that God's anointing flows in certain ways. Generally we find it flowing through material things. So you have your cloth, Jesus' hem of the garment, oil, you know, some other things. Now these days you also have the practice people pray on water and they say okay bring the water it will heal you and it happens. So because anointing flows through these material things but this incident in Acts 5 we can call it as it's a little unusual because it's shadow and shadow is not a material thing. It's like a non-material thing. You can't even call it a thing but even through the shadow so it's an unusual miracle that God can cause healing. As Kiran said it is through the Holy Spirit. Yes of course it's God's Holy Spirit, God's power flowing through even by the shadow of Peter. So we can see how powerfully the early church and the apostles were moving with God because they were moving so wonderfully with God you know amazing things were going on and to the extent you know nobody will bring their sick from neighboring towns if they don't hear good reports right but obviously miracles were happening lots of miracles were happening that is why others were also excited and they brought their own sick people oppressed people and the apostles continued to do the works of God and especially Peter there was a supernatural and unusual way of working that God demonstrated through his life even through the shadow. Now whenever these amazing miracles are taking place the apostles might expect wow people are going to appreciate us they're going to praise us they're going to put us on a pedestal but what happens now to the apostles earlier when the miracle of the lame man happened they were arrested again same fate awaits the apostles we notice that the high priest he heard about all this what is going on people are coming from different cities and who are these 12 men and what is going on in that community you know this is not good because they were also preaching about Jesus who was resurrected and remember we said there were Sadducees and that time the high priest was from the sect of the Sadducees so he was very upset that these people are preaching about resurrection which we don't believe okay so it says that this high priest was filled with indignation indignation is anger he was so angry and again what did he do he went and he caught these apostles okay and he put them in the prison how sad it's like the people that say the world around you know we are doing God's work but what is happening to us we are being put in the prison right it's so discouraging isn't it for the apostles we might think that oh I hope they don't get disappointed with this kind of a response but earlier we noticed that you know Peter being filled with the Holy Spirit he stood bold he came back reported it to his companions and they cried out to God and what did they pray for God give us boldness make sure that through your you stretch out your hands and you do more miracles you do more healing so they had an attitude of boldness this time let us see what happens second time they got arrested okay how will they react to this but you you see in the second incident in Acts chapter 5 God intervenes earlier how did God intervene God intervene in such a way that the uh the leaders could not find the reason okay so because they could not find the reason they just severely threatened them want them and said okay go don't preach in this name don't talk in this name anymore and they send them now what God does is he sends an angel okay at night and the angel comes and opens up the prison doors and brings them out and what does the angel instruct them after bringing them out it says you go stand in the temple and speak to the people the words of this life so you see that the heavenly hosts are also working in cooperation with the purpose of God what is the purpose of God Jesus said go into all the world preach the gospel authorities are telling don't preach but God his kingdom even the angels God is assigning to the to the believers and giving aid remember Book of Hebrews says that these angels they are ministering spirits ministering means serving serving spirits they come and serve in whatever way God has called them to do so they are serving the early church they're serving the apostles and what did they do they open the prisons so is God able to open prison doors send angels today very much okay so excuse me this is the confidence which we have when we are serving God you know we are not serving alone you must remember that we are not serving alone I I just want to share with you I think your batch right you know we before the lockdown happened and the couple of years before that we used to have this program for the youth called us elevate on campus like we would go to different colleges and have you know teach them from God's word more application based relevant to them but yes after the lockdown and all it it's not possible to go into colleges anymore but yeah when I was involved in campus elevates I remember we used to go to colleges just ask for permission to say can we can we do this program and sometimes know when you walk into a big college there'll be thousands of students there'll be lecturers walking here and there then they'll make you wait for a few hours because you have to go meet the principal right so sometimes it's little scary you're thinking oh no what will the principal say I feel so alone you know getting permission here that thought used to go through my mind and at that time I should remind myself I'm not alone you know this is this is what Jesus told us to do and God sends angels you know God goes before us so when we are doing ministry you know we must remember we are not alone God is with us and God will help us and in this case right it's a very adverse situation they are in the prison and still God sends the angel in the night and he opens the prison door how amazing isn't it you have connections as they call it up above and even God can intervene on our behalf and the prison door is opened up but in the normal scenario you might think that the apostles will try to escape and run away isn't it but they don't do that they follow the instruction of the angel and you know angel tells them to do what just now they were caught wouldn't it be wiser for them to go and hide somewhere to save their own life but no the angels instruction is you continue preaching because that is the purpose of God so they go back to the temple and what do they do early in the morning it says they taught and then you have the high priests and all gathering together okay because now they are confused what is going on you know where are these prisoners so they call a council together and they send you know somebody to the prison to bring these people because now interrogation has to take place the next day but the officers come back and they report this and they say the prison was shut the guards were still standing outside before the doors but when they opened there was nobody inside okay something supernatural how is it possible but you see God did it he did it for the apostles and I think I've heard about the one story of Sadhu Sundar Singh that somebody put him in the well and it was closed right and all that but miraculously one day a rope came in and nobody knows like who put the rope and all but he was able to hold that rope and he was able to come out in a supernatural way so you know the story goes something like that so God can rescue us supernaturally now it doesn't happen all the time but it can happen and when we are walking according to the purposes of God God comes to our rescue okay so now you have the apostles out they are back early morning they are preaching where the where the angel told them to go and preach and these these authorities they don't find them in the prison and they are shocked they are surprised hey what happened everything is locked but these men are not inside so when they heard this okay they they were wondering like what to do what to do yeah so somebody came and told them these people who are not in the prison guess what they are at the temple okay so it must have been very confusing for the authorities at that time yeah so they get a hold of these people they bring them once again and then you know they start off from where they left what do they say listen we told you right we commanded you earlier that you should not preach in this name no what are you all doing so so much is going on in the city there is so much chaos in the city and you're preaching in the name of this this Jesus it's not right okay so they continue to warn the disciples and they say look you have Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood on us so I told you right Jesus' trial had taken place sometime back and the authorities were scared that there will be like a repercussion to the wrong decision which the leaders had taken so they were scared oh that that man who died something supernatural about him look at the way his his followers are you know making an uproar in the city right with in a I mean in a righteous way so there's something about this something that's going on there's something about that man Jesus Christ so if he was a righteous man and the people understand that we will be in trouble because we were the ones who crucified him so Peter and the apostles you know they once again put their foot down and the way they had told earlier right like you tell us who should we listen to should we listen to you or should we listen to God and in the same in that same attitude no Peter and other apostles they tell the authorities they say we must obey God rather than men and they speak about Jesus as the prince and savior basically remember Peter he had he always did this when the miracle when the Holy Spirit was poured out and a lot of people gathered he preached the gospel okay he introduced Jesus in their own context because the Jewish people they understood about you know David and Moses and the Jewish scriptures and Joel's prophecy and also he preached in their context when the lame man got healed what did Peter do he preached okay so Peter knows that opportunities are there and we must proclaim the gospel and even now as he's speaking to the authorities no he introduces Jesus how do you preach without talking about Jesus and who he really is so he preaches about Jesus and he says look Jesus he is the prince he is the savior okay he is the one who has come to give repentance and and forgiveness to the people for their sins and he says look we are just witnesses of this God and what he is doing through the Holy Spirit and we have to obey this God you know I we know what you're saying but we have to obey God so this is what they stand up and tell the authorities so now you would find that the authorities are somewhat confused what to do with these people you know remember we said it's like a forest fire it's not easy to put off okay so they go ahead and they discuss it among themselves so the council used to do that one of the things they did is consulting each other earlier also they consulted and they decided okay better to threaten these people send them off otherwise the public might go against us right we can't imprison them for doing a good deed now again consultation is going on and they are it says they were furious they plotted they were so angry that this time they thought it's better to kill these people they destroy them so the discussion is going to that level that we can't control how about we just kill these people but at that time there seems to be a a good well respected person in the council he's a Pharisee by the name of Gamaliel this person Gamaliel have you heard about him anywhere yes Thomas we heard about okay okay do you know who he is there is text text oh yeah correct he says he's the teacher of correct so Paul was trained under Gamaliel so Gamaliel is that you know like the rabbi Pharisee well respected teacher so many people would have studied under him even Paul the apostle had studied under him so Gamaliel brings in his wisdom at a point such as this to tell the council what to do about these apostles okay so since we have run out of time I think we will just stop here and we will come back and you know pick it up from this place but it's interesting you know to note that God's work is continuing and you know the the power of God is being seen the the thriving status of of the church is so obvious right it's growing and the community has so many beautiful features in it right and God himself is working together with the church okay and we'll see we'll see what kind of decision Gamaliel is going to to come up with and what instruction he gives the people and then we will see the continuation of the book of Acts later on okay so we'll pause at this time and I think it'll be good if somebody could pray so we close today's class and we could move on to the next class yeah Aran you want to pray Aran yeah sure yeah sure please go ahead yeah let me pray thank you Lord for blessing this and a new day to the new world Lord and thank you so much for giving us this privilege to study without any issue Lord there are lots of people of other who want to study who want to hear you worry but they can't but Lord thank you so much for giving us this opportunity Lord Lord let us be the voice and help us to demonstrate your kingdom to those people so Lord Jesus transform us both inside and out every single day as we go deeper and deeper in your miracle this work so Lord I pray in Acts this and Jesus name amen amen amen thank you thank you Aran thank you class and I really hope you're enjoying if you have any thoughts any feedback right the just please feel free to let me know we'll do our best to cover the book of Acts well okay so yeah thank you yeah thank you thank you take care yeah God bless have a blessed day thank you bye