Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hey, guys, this is naive. And you've reached the Mosaic Church podcast. So excited that you're part of our listening community, and I'd love for you to be even more connected. So check out our website. There's more content there and there's more opportunities for you to get connected in our ministries and events as well. Also, love for you to share this content if this is blessed to you. I know that God wants to use you to bless other people with it, so share this podcast if you will. Lastly, would you consider supporting this ministry? This is made possible by other people's generosity, and I'd love for you to pay it forward.
Join us to reclaim the message and the movement of Jesus together. So would you consider giving to this ministry? I know that God is able to do immeasurably more through us when we come together. Thank you so much. God bless you.
[00:00:53] Speaker B: Enjoy.
What's up, everybody?
What's up? What's up?
What's up? What's up, everybody? Man, it feels so good to be back.
It's been a long, long time. For those who do not know me, they call me Pastor T around these parts.
[00:01:15] Speaker C: And like your pastor said, I lead
[00:01:19] Speaker B: U City, the church, which is literally 11 minutes away from here. And it is because of you all that we got just to do that.
[00:01:29] Speaker C: And so give yourselves a round of applause for.
Yeah, helping us plant a church.
[00:01:37] Speaker B: And I am family here, even if y' all don't want me to be.
I am.
And I get the privilege of walking you through three chapters in this series of acts. Now, I want to pray for us
[00:01:58] Speaker C: first, and then I want to dive in.
[00:02:01] Speaker B: Is that okay?
[00:02:02] Speaker C: Father, you are good. And thank you for giving us this opportunity.
Father, you are kind, you are merciful, and you are even more than all of these. We ask that your holy Spirit fills this room and that you are tangible here. I pray, Father, that if I say anything that is unnecessary, that is not from you, that it falls flat.
But if it is from you, let it pierce our hearts deep down to our souls. God, and we love you. And even if we don't do that, well, thank you for loving us. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
[00:02:48] Speaker B: Amen.
Yes. Like I said, we are in this series of acts. And I love what you all are doing. One of my favorite things just to do is a Bible study. I love Bible study. I love. I love old school. Sit down. Open the Bible. What does this mean? And so that's what we get to do this morning. Can we do that?
Just walk through Acts chapter 5, 6 and 7.
Last week your pastor spoke about five
[00:03:27] Speaker C: truths for a spirit led life.
[00:03:31] Speaker B: And I'm going to hop on that
[00:03:36] Speaker C: train and I want to talk about four things.
Four happenings of when the Spirit comes and hits.
Four happenings of when the Spirit comes.
[00:03:55] Speaker B: What is the fastest way that you
[00:04:00] Speaker C: can earn a trust?
And I believe that is through sacrifice, man.
[00:04:08] Speaker B: If you sacrifice for someone, man, they notice it quickly and it changes their
[00:04:17] Speaker C: perception and their safety with you. And how you sacrifice is through the power of. Of the Holy Spirit.
[00:04:24] Speaker B: That's what we get to talk about. The Holy Spirit allows you just to do things that you never thought that you would do.
Go further than you ever thought you would be more generous than you ever thought you could.
[00:04:41] Speaker C: Man, that rhyme, that's lyrics bars, man, that was not planned. I'm telling you.
[00:04:51] Speaker B: And let me share with you what
[00:04:53] Speaker C: the Holy Spirit allowed me to do
[00:04:58] Speaker B: years ago. I have been married for about 12 years and I'm glad my wife is
[00:05:03] Speaker C: not here because I could get that wrong.
[00:05:06] Speaker B: 12 years and a while ago she wanted to go horseback riding.
And so we went horseback riding.
And it was a very good time for her and not so good for me. The reason why I said the Holy Spirit, help me do this, because I do not like horses, for one. They're too big. Why would you make an animal that
[00:05:36] Speaker C: big and so close to humans?
Doesn't make sense to me, but hear me.
[00:05:45] Speaker B: So we went horseback riding. And one of the reasons why I didn't want to just to go, because horses, I did not like horses. But when I got there and so we hopped on a horse, for some reason my horse had an attitude and it was not me, it was it.
And the horse did not want me on his back so much so that we're walking down this path. It's walking, we're riding down this path. It sees a tree and gets an incredible idea.
It says, I'm going to go and rub my whole body against this tree so this person can get off of me. And so the instructor that was that we were following said, hey, this is odd. Never seen this before.
And so he said, let's switch horses. I said, all right, bet. Because it is the horse's fault, it's not me. So I got on the second horse and why did this, why did that horse do the same thing?
It was like, get off of me.
Now that is a real happening. I wanted to share that because it
[00:06:57] Speaker C: was a sacrifice for me to do that. And it was through the power of the Holy Spirit, while that is a light story, this next story is not that light.
[00:07:13] Speaker B: We learn four things through these next
[00:07:17] Speaker C: three chapters about the Holy Spirit or the Spirit of God.
[00:07:26] Speaker B: And let me inform us or bring
[00:07:32] Speaker C: it to our attention again of what the Holy Spirit is.
[00:07:36] Speaker B: So the Holy Spirit is God with
[00:07:38] Speaker C: you and working through you.
[00:07:41] Speaker B: He's not a force that you tap into.
[00:07:44] Speaker C: He's God living inside of you. The Spirit makes God real, not just known.
He doesn't just help your life, he changes your life.
It is God in us. That is what the Holy Spirit is.
God in us.
[00:08:08] Speaker B: So again I want to talk about
[00:08:10] Speaker C: four happenings of what happens when spirit impacts and hits us.
[00:08:20] Speaker B: It's like an asteroid just coming from space.
Thousands, thousands of miles per hour.
It is disruptive
[00:08:35] Speaker C: and life changing.
[00:08:39] Speaker B: So number one, number one, the Spirit
[00:08:45] Speaker C: confronts and it guts you open and cleans you out from the inside.
That's what the Holy Spirit does. It doesn't sound fun or pleasant does it? But it is worth it.
[00:09:05] Speaker B: And so, and let's see in Acts chapter 5, verse 5 where we see that it says this. Now a man named Ananias with his wife Sapphira also sold a piece of
[00:09:21] Speaker C: plain property with his wife. Foreknowledge. He kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles feet. And now let me place that into context.
[00:09:35] Speaker B: The Holy Spirit came, came down, descended and so much so it was a different way of living.
Each person sold what they had, put it in the middle and divided it equally. How many of you know that takes the power of the Holy Spirit? And if one of you would sell your Jeep Gladiator and put it in the middle and then give it to
[00:10:01] Speaker C: me that would be the power of the Holy Spirit.
[00:10:08] Speaker B: But this is what was happening.
And then someone by the name of Barnabas was, was shared and they were like, and everybody was doing this, but especially Barnabas. Barnabas sold his land, got all the money and then he divided that money
[00:10:28] Speaker C: equally among the people.
[00:10:33] Speaker B: And they loved it. They said man, you are the man Barnabas. And then there was this couple that said well I want to be the man too.
And so this man and his wife,
[00:10:46] Speaker C: who I just read Sapphira and her husband, they sold a piece of property.
And with his wife's full knowledge, Safir's full knowledge, he kept that part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles feet.
And then Peter, a disciple and an
[00:11:08] Speaker B: apostle said Ananias how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land.
Didn't it belong to you before it was sold and after it was sold? Wasn't the money at your disposal?
[00:11:33] Speaker C: What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings, but to God.
And when he, the husband, heard this and he fell to the ground, not breathing, Ananias fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened.
[00:11:59] Speaker B: Then some young men came forward, wrapped
[00:12:01] Speaker C: up in his body and carried him out and buried him. And then about three hours later, his wife walks in Sapphira.
[00:12:10] Speaker B: Hey, y' all see what we did?
We sold everything and we just like gave it all like everyone else did. And Peter said, yeah, right.
He said to her, how could you conspire to test the spirit of the Lord? Listen, the feet of the men who buried your husband are at your door. She did not know that her husband died and they will carry you out also. And Peter asked this number four, is that the price that you paid for the land?
[00:12:42] Speaker C: And she said, yes. And she lied.
She also was in with keeping the money. Then verse 10 says, at that moment she fell down at her feet and died. Then a young man came in, finding her dead, carried her out, buried her beside her husband, and great fear seized the whole church. And all who heard about these events, the Holy Spirit confronts.
And now some of you and in this room is like, that's not the guy that I heard of.
[00:13:21] Speaker B: I'm confused.
If you are anybody like me, my
[00:13:25] Speaker C: natural bent is that God is me.
[00:13:29] Speaker B: So whenever you read it, you read
[00:13:31] Speaker C: it through that lens.
That was not merciful at all.
But let me show you that something was being built.
[00:13:42] Speaker B: When the Holy Spirit came, the spirit of God, Jesus went up and Jesus said, I'm going to send something, someone even more powerful.
And it was the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit comes, it gives you this new way of living. Like I tell my son, you share, right? And he is nine years old and he doesn't share with my two year old.
And she knows how to share.
And life is different. This way of living is so countercultural to what you are used to,
[00:14:29] Speaker C: just
[00:14:29] Speaker B: what you are used to.
And so God was building a foundation for us now then that we would believe in the Holy Spirit and be led by the Holy Spirit. Remember, it was new to them. So imagine if you were starting a business and you are in your living room and you have two employees and it's three of y'. All. And one of those employees starts talking junk about you or undermining the business or don't believe in the business or what would you do?
Fire them?
Why? It's because the foundation is too important to be iffy about.
We are building something on top of this.
And what we're building is for you and me.
And so we don't need this foundation to be shaky.
And so that is how God acted.
[00:15:31] Speaker C: He sent a message, says, I am not playing about this thing.
This is serious to me.
And it was out of his mercy.
So the Spirit confronts and cleans you out.
[00:15:53] Speaker B: Secondly, the Spirit attracts and healed.
We're still in chapter five, and we have now jumped to verse 14.
And it says, nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord
[00:16:11] Speaker C: and were added to their number. And many were added to their number.
[00:16:15] Speaker B: So they are giving away all the things people are seeing, how generous they are being.
People are seeing like, wow, this is different. I want just live like this. How do I be a part of this?
And so people were coming and believing and receiving Jesus. And as a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds mats so that at least
[00:16:41] Speaker C: Peter's shadow might fall on them as he passed.
And crowds gathered also from the towns around the city, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits. And all of them were healed. The spirit attracts and it heals.
And the Spirit is in you.
[00:17:09] Speaker B: There's something that happens with me when
[00:17:11] Speaker C: I spend time with God in the morning.
For some reason, I have odd occurrences in the day and I'm like, whoa,
[00:17:20] Speaker B: how did that happen? How did I meet so and so? How did that conversation happen? And someone's always crying around me, telling me what is hurting.
That is because the Holy Spirit attracts
[00:17:37] Speaker C: the work that God wants done and it heals.
[00:17:42] Speaker B: Here it talked about healing physically, and that's true.
[00:17:48] Speaker C: But how many of you know that because of the Holy Spirit in you, that you can heal others emotionally, mentally?
[00:18:00] Speaker B: That because of the Spirit of God
[00:18:02] Speaker C: in you, you can change people's lives?
[00:18:11] Speaker B: And then as we walk down further in the chapter, these apostles that were doing great things, that they were walking and people were being healed and people and they were being set free and people were demons and all the things were being cast out, and because they're doing such good work, they were arrested
[00:18:40] Speaker C: and thrown into in jail. But God never left them.
And during the night, an angel came and just opened the door and said, go and continue doing what you are doing. Tell the People about a new life.
And so Peter and his disciples and the disciples went into the court
[00:19:08] Speaker B: to
[00:19:09] Speaker C: tell people about Jesus. And then we find ourselves, verse 29 that says Peter and the other apostles replied, we must obey God rather than human beings.
[00:19:23] Speaker B: And so the apostles are in the court and they are in the court, a bunch in front of a bunch of high powered people who run the government and the city and the religions and all the things. And they are saying, stop it, you are bringing chaos. And this is not what we should be doing.
And the apostles, like Peter said, we
[00:19:48] Speaker C: must obey God rather than human beings. Now, I'm going to say this in one way, but then I will explain it. Here is number three, I think is that the Spirit gives you a backbone.
That spirit of God gives you a backbone. And what I mean by that is that it makes you courageous and have you doing things that you never thought that you would do and saying things
[00:20:23] Speaker B: that you never thought that you would say. How many of you, like me, deal with people pleasing?
[00:20:31] Speaker C: That's right, all eight of us this time.
Thank you for being vulnerable.
Well, what the Holy Spirit does is help you not be.
[00:20:44] Speaker B: And it is shown in this passage, we only submit and do what God tells us to do. Not you,
[00:20:53] Speaker C: but God.
[00:20:54] Speaker B: And we live in a culture where
[00:20:56] Speaker C: that has to be the case where you get to choose.
[00:21:05] Speaker B: Is it God or people?
Is it
[00:21:12] Speaker C: guide and know your friend, guide and know your family member?
God helps you, the Spirit of God helps you. That the Holy Spirit makes you courageous.
[00:21:32] Speaker B: Next.
[00:21:33] Speaker C: And we are still in chapter five. The Spirit makes what hurts feel like it matters.
The Spirit makes what hurt feels like it matters.
[00:21:46] Speaker B: Verse 40 says this.
So they are standing in front of
[00:21:50] Speaker C: the court and they are telling them
[00:21:53] Speaker B: all about Jesus and God.
[00:21:54] Speaker C: And then it was answered like this. His speech persuaded them. The apostles speech persuaded them. They called the apostles in and had them flogged.
What they were saying persuaded them to
[00:22:10] Speaker B: beat and whip the apostles.
And then they ordered them to not
[00:22:18] Speaker C: speak in the name of Jesus and let them go.
And the apostles left the Sanhedrin rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the name, for the name of Jesus. The Spirit makes what hurt matters.
[00:22:40] Speaker B: It is odd that they are sharing this good news and they're sharing this another way of life.
And then they were beat because of it. And then they were let go and said, do not speak about Jesus again here.
And I don't know about you, but I would have walked away really angry.
Then I would have went to my trunk and opened it and got something out.
A few of us got that. A few of us got that.
No. But they walked out rejoicing and they counted it all. Joy that they have suffered the same way Jesus did.
That is not by our power.
That is not natural to us. That is the Holy Spirit that makes what hurt feel like it matters.
[00:23:39] Speaker C: It makes it count. Then lastly, last point point number four.
The Spirit makes you willing to pay the cost.
The Spirit makes you willing to pay the cost. The cost. And so.
[00:23:59] Speaker B: And so we are now in chapter six of it. And there was an issue in the city. All these good things were happening, but some people were being overlooked. And so they. And so the apostles got the leaders, got seven people that they trusted. And one of these people were. His name was Stephen. And like he was wise and full
[00:24:25] Speaker C: of the Holy Spirit is what it said.
[00:24:28] Speaker B: And then Stephen goes out and preaches
[00:24:31] Speaker C: the same message, telling him about grace, telling him about, we are all the same.
[00:24:38] Speaker B: There's no Jew, nor Gentile, nor male nor female.
We are all equal and all sons of God.
And like he is sharing this message, and he is sharing it for of the Holy Spirit. And then he was arrested.
[00:25:00] Speaker C: And then it says this.
[00:25:02] Speaker B: When the members of the Sanhedrin heard
[00:25:06] Speaker C: this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him.
[00:25:10] Speaker B: They had arrested him. And then he made this beautiful speech about God.
[00:25:15] Speaker C: And then the speech went south. He then started calling them names and stuff, but that's fine.
[00:25:21] Speaker B: And after he started calling them names, they got upset and they went, any time you see gnashing of teeth.
[00:25:27] Speaker C: And in the Bible, that's what that means.
[00:25:30] Speaker B: But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit,
[00:25:33] Speaker C: looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of the throne. Look, he said, I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of the throne. Why did he say that?
[00:25:45] Speaker B: What was happening?
[00:25:46] Speaker C: Well, because of what he was saying. He was being killed. He was being stoned.
[00:25:51] Speaker B: And not just the lovely sandstones that you see, it was boulders that they were throwing on top of him because they wanted him dead. They dragged him out of the court and started throwing rocks and boulders at him, killing him. And while that was happening, Stephen looks up to heaven, sees God, the heavens open up and sees Jesus at the right hand of the throne. And I would say, smiling at him.
At this,
[00:26:28] Speaker C: as he was saying this, they covered their ears and yelling at the top of their voices, and they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city, began to stone him.
[00:26:37] Speaker B: Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at
[00:26:40] Speaker C: the feet of a young man named Saul.
Huh.
Saul.
Does anybody know who Saul became?
Saul was watching Stephen beat and stoned.
And while they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, lord Jesus. Jesus, receive my spirit. Then he fell on his knees, cried out, lord, do not hold this sin against them. When he had said this, he fell asleep. Stephen died.
Stephen died in that moment.
See, the spirit makes you willing to pay the cost.
That is not by our own efforts or desires. It is the Holy Spirit that allows you to do that.
Stephen's sacrifice, actually, he was known. I mean, that is his legacy.
It's the level of his sacrifice was his life.
But here is the hope, okay, for all of you business people, there is this term called roi, right?
What does that mean?
[00:28:10] Speaker B: Yell it out.
[00:28:10] Speaker C: Just with your chest.
[00:28:12] Speaker B: Return on investments. Well, I have something better than that.
[00:28:17] Speaker C: I don't, but it's.
You all does.
[00:28:22] Speaker B: But what is.
[00:28:23] Speaker C: What if it is R. O.
[00:28:26] Speaker B: S
[00:28:29] Speaker C: return on sacrifice?
There is always a return on your sacrifice.
And for Stephen, the return on sacrifice was him looking up and seeing Jesus on the throne, sitting at the right hand. The same person who asked him to make this journey. The same person who empowered him just to do this. The same message he was speaking, he was now seeing.
And it was for the glory of God. That was the return on his sacrifice.
[00:29:18] Speaker B: And for us, that is hard, that. That is enough.
[00:29:24] Speaker C: But that should be most valuable and most wanted.
But there's also a second return on his sacrifice.
See, when you make sacrifices, you plant seeds that you may never see.
The leader of the people beating him or stoning Stephen was a guy named Saul, who is now Paul, the leader of our faith. One of the great leaders of our faith stoned Stephen.
[00:30:03] Speaker B: But that sowed a seed.
That sowed a seed, because it goes like this.
[00:30:13] Speaker C: When Stephen was killed, the disciples dispersed and they went to other cities.
[00:30:20] Speaker B: And Saul was like, no, I'm not done yet.
[00:30:23] Speaker C: I'm finding someone else to kill.
[00:30:26] Speaker B: And so he goes after them.
[00:30:27] Speaker C: And while he's going after them, guess who he meets?
Jesus.
On the road to Damascus.
If it wasn't for Stephen's death, we would not have Paul.
We our sacrifice. Your sacrifice sows seeds that you may never see.
But my hope is, is that you will see something.
[00:31:02] Speaker B: So what
[00:31:05] Speaker C: are you sacrificing?
You may be a mother here, and you are sacrificing a lot.
[00:31:15] Speaker B: And you hope that you will see
[00:31:17] Speaker C: a return on your sacrifice, that your kids grow up, love Jesus, strong, healthy, safe.
There is always a return on Your sacrifice.
So my question is, what are you sacrificing?
What are you sacrificing?
The Holy Spirit is God in you.
And it allows you to do things that you never thought you could do.
It allows you to heal.
It attracts, it comforts, it makes you brave.
And it does not do this for no reason. There is a reason. And that reason is to advance the good news.
Listen, the good news is not just words. It's an experience.
And when you sacrifice and when the Spirit lives in you, you give people an experience of the gospel.
It's not just words.
[00:32:43] Speaker B: They get too.
[00:32:48] Speaker C: They get to see how you share.
They give to receive from your sharing
[00:32:58] Speaker B: and from your sacrifice and generosity.
People don't experience that as much as you think they do.
And we get to do that.
[00:33:15] Speaker C: My hope for us
[00:33:20] Speaker B: is that the
[00:33:21] Speaker C: Spirit of God is so alive and strong in you that you make a major difference in whatever room you walk in.
And family that you're in, the job that you work.
Amen.
Let us pray.
Father, your Holy Spirit is more than what could happen if we live in is you in us. And let that be the greatest gift is that God with us
[00:34:07] Speaker B: above everything,
[00:34:08] Speaker C: above healing, above being generous, above being sacrificial, that you are enough.
And for us in this room that are dealing with making sacrifices that they are seeing no fruit of, give them hope right now.
Give them something they can see.
Hope.
And I pray that we spend time with God and ask for the power of God in us so that we can make a difference first in us and then through us.
We love you. And it is only by your Holy Spirit that we can.
In Jesus name we pray.
Amen.
[00:35:06] Speaker D: Thanks for listening to this message from Mosaic church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
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