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Tag: jerusalem

The Testimony of Christ by Stephen
“But be on your guard; for they will hand you over to the [Sanhedrin; or Council] courts, and you will be flogged in the synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them.
Gospel of Mark 13:9 – Reply of Jesus to Peter, James, John and Andrew about signs of the beginning of the last days.

μαρτύριον – Testimony
- martyrion – From a presumed derivative of μάρτυς (G3144)
WE know it by sometimes sworn oath:
- Sworn testimony is evidence given by a witness who has made a commitment to tell the truth. If the witness is later found to have lied whilst bound by the commitment, they can often be charged with the crime of perjury. The types of commitment can include oaths, affirmations and promises.. – Source: Wikipedia
- 第七十条凡知悉案件的单位和个人，应当承担出庭作证的义务。有关单位负责人应当支持证人作证。证人确难以出庭的，经人民法院同意，可以提交书面证言。任何不能适当表达意愿的人不得作证。
  - Note: Talk of JESUS .com will occasionally include a testimony of Christ in other languages for our readers in other countries. Above: from Chinese law
Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later
Hebrews 3:3 NASB20

Stephen’s Testimony of their Hebrew Ancestors

God will raise up for you a prophet

Our fathers had the tabernacle of the Testimony with them in the wilderness. It was constructed exactly as God had directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen. – Acts 7:44

We have reached the point in his trial where Stephen’s testimony will quickly move on from Moses to David.

Acts 7: continued

7:45 Years later, when Joshua led our ancestors in battle against the nations that God drove out of this land, the Tabernacle was taken with them into their new territory. And it stayed there until the time of King David.
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Timeline: Moses *uncertain *(~15th or 13th c. B.C.); (Precise timeline of Joshua & the Judges of Israel uncertain.):
David *~1000 B.C. (dates differ between various sources); Solomon ~900's B.C. - First Temple of the United Kingdom of Israel (Judah in the south & Israel in the north) ended in 931 B.C. at Solomon's death.

Stephen's testimony before Jerusalem's leaders takes place about ten centuries (1000 years) after David, 
but just two years after these judges of Herod's temple reject their Messiah Jesus.
```
First Temple

Herod’s temple

46 David found favor in God’s sight, and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the house of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built a house for Him..

Herod’s temple

Stephen then Testifies for the LORD from Scripture:
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Bereishit (Genesis) 14:22  וַיֹּאמֶר אַבְרָם אֶל־מֶלֶךְ סְדֹם הֲרִימֹתִי יָדִי אֶל־יְהוָה אֵל עֶלְיוֹן קֹנֵה שָׁמַיִם וָאָֽרֶץ׃
```
But it was Solomon who actually built it. However, the Most High doesn’t live in temples made by human hands. As the prophet says,
Acts 7:47-48 NLT

‘Heaven is My throne,
And the earth is the footstool of My feet;
What kind of house will you build for Me?’ says the Lord,
Acts of the Apostles 7:49a NASB

‘Or what place is there for My rest?
Was it not My hand that made all these things?’
Acts of the Apostles 7:49b NASB

Another Rare Vision

29:18 בְּאֵין חָזוֹן יִפָּרַֽע עָם וְשֹׁמֵר תּוֹרָה אַשְׁרֵֽהוּ׃
Proverbs 29:18 WLC, ESV Where there is no prophetic vision [חָזוֹן]. the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.

The Lord God has kept silent for centuries between the Prophets and John the Baptist.

These Judges of Jerusalem’s Sanhedrin have witnessed rare wonders and signs which have prompted the faithful to ask if certain men have been sent to them from the Lord God.

Peter, John and the Apostles have healed many in Jerusalem for two years now.

And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all.

Before that, for three years Jesus, whom they called Son of David, performed many signs and proofs throughout Judah, Samaria and Galilee. Some had speculated that their Messiah from Nazareth could have been John the Baptist resurrected from the dead.

(Others even claim to have seen Jesus after His crucifixion on a Cross and burial in a nearby tomb!)

And many Jews, leaders of the Sanhedrin and even Herod had marveled at the preaching of John the Baptist.

John the Baptist
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from the Good News of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (who had stood with Peter during his sign at the temple):
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This was John’s testimony when the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him, “Who are you? ”
He didn’t deny it but confessed: “I am not the Messiah.”
“What then? ” they asked him. “Are you Elijah? ”
“I am not,” he said.
“Are you the Prophet? ”
“No,” he answered.
“Who are you, then? ” they asked. “We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What can you tell us about yourself? ”
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He said, “I am a voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord — just as Isaiah the prophet said.”
Gospel of John 1:23 NASB20 – John the Baptist speaking of the Lord Jesus

Jerusalem’s elders held a distant fear of the Lord, as when the Hebrew elders had asked Moses NOT to look upon the Face of the LORD. Isaiah and the Prophets of old had had visions like no earthly corporate vision of a gathering at the temple or in synagogues. So they had to be certain that men like John the baptizer and Jesus and Peter and now, Stephen (addressing them with the face of an angel) would not strike them down for their turning from God.

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Hebrews 10:[28-]31

Stephen’s Testimony Echoes Isaiah
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Israel's ruling council, now judging Stephen, would have been well familiar with these prophesies of Isaiah, 
*whose name means “The LORD is salvation,” and is similar to the names Joshua, Elisha, and Jesus; and ministered in and around Jerusalem as a prophet to Judah during the reigns of 4 kings of Judah, c. 739–686 B.C. - *Source
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Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of armies…

And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke.

Recall now from the testimony of Acts 6: 'All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel,' also used of Moses after having received the Law from the LORD and Isaiah's own testimony of having seen the Lord and heard Him speak.

Isaiah – חֲזוֹן יְשַֽׁעְיָהוּ
The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz concerning Judah and Jerusalem, which he saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

Listen, heavens, and hear, earth;
For the LORD has spoken:
“Sons I have raised and brought up,
But they have revolted against Me.

“An ox knows its owner,
And a donkey its master’s manger,
But Israel does not know,
My people do not understand.”

Oh, sinful nation,
People weighed down with guilt,
Offspring of evildoers,
Sons who act corruptly!
They have abandoned the LORD,
They have despised the Holy One of Israel,
They have turned away from Him.
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2:12 For the Lord of armies will have a day of reckoning
Against everyone who is arrogant and haughty,
And against everyone who is lifted up,
That he may be brought low.

3:14 The Lord enters into judgment with the elders and leaders of His people,
“It is you who have devoured the vineyard;
The goods stolen from the poor are in your houses.
15 What do you mean by crushing My people
And [m]oppressing the face of the poor?”
Declares the Lord God of armies.
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- 6:1 .. I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple.
- .. And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke.
- .. Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying,
“Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?”
- .. “Send me.”
- Then I said, “Lord, how long?”
- And He answered, “Until cities are devastated and without inhabitant, Houses are without people, And the land is utterly desolate..
- 7:13 Then he said, “Listen now, house of David! Is it too trivial a thing for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God as well?
“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and she will name Him Immanuel…
“The LORD will bring on you, on your people, and on your father’s house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim separated from Judah—the days of the king of Assyria.”
Isaiah 7:14,17 NASB20

Indictment

66:2 וְאֶת־כָּל־אֵלֶּה יָדִי עָשָׂתָה וַיִּהְיוּ כָל־אֵלֶּה נְאֻם־יְהוָה וְאֶל־זֶה אַבִּיט אֶל־ עָנִי וּנְכֵה־רוּחַ וְחָרֵד עַל־דְּבָרִֽי׃
Isaiah 66:2 – quoted by Stephen

For My hand made all these things,
So all these things came into being,” declares the Lord.
“But I will look to this one,
At one who is humble and contrite in spirit, and who trembles at My word.
Isaiah 66:2 NASB

NEXT: Stephen’s closing argument and Sentence of the Sanhedrin

使徒行传 7: To be continued…
January 18, 2022
Stephen, Dynamic Preacher of God’s Word
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We return now to Jerusalem in c.A.D.30, from where Luke left us with the Apostles' appointing seven men to help minister to the needs of a growing Church. Today we begin with a look at this first named deacon, Stephen.
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The word [from the Apostles] found approval with the whole congregation; and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and [six other men].
Acts 6:5 NASB20

Stephen, a man full of faith

The multitudes of the growing church elect seven men to help the Twelve with administration of some daily duties of the church which have begun to cause complaint. Number one on their list: Stephen.

ACTS of the Apostles 6:

So the word of God spread, the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly in number, and a large group of priests became obedient to the faith.
Acts of the Apostles 6:7 CSB

Now, Nineteen (not just the Twelve) Preach the Gospel in Jerusalem

Luke has witnessed the power of the Holy Spirit moving in Christ’s saints in Jerusalem, along with accompanying signs from God. Multitudes now join the fellowship of believers led by Peter and John, all the Apostles and now seven more saints determined to preach Christ crucified and risen from the grave.

Some perhaps, (in addition to the Twelve) may have witnessed the Lord Jesus as one of the more than five-hundred who saw Jesus with their own eyes after His resurrection.

The new congregation of believers encounter opposition from the established rulers of Jerusalem already determined to snuff out the burning new zeal of those who have believed in Jesus by the witness of the Apostles. (Perhaps these will be less likely to oppose the authority of Jerusalem’s official judgment than their outspoken uneducated teachers Peter and John, who had escaped imprisonment prior to trial.)

Stephen, full of grace and power

But what happens within their walls of Jerusalem?

Now Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people.
Acts of the Apostles 6:8 CSB

A Church Seized by Signs and Wonders

.. great wonders and miracles among the people.

First, Simon Peter and John, preaching in the courtyards of our Temple with a man healed from life-long lameness.

(We had to release them or the multitudes would have turned on us!)

But now, MORE signs — NOT through twelve Apostles of Jesus, but a NEW disciple of His Disciples!

And Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people.
Acts of the Apostles 6:8 NASB20

Who is this new disciple of the former rabbi Jesus?

Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen.

These freedmen were also Jews caught up in the disputes of Hellenism, as had led to the call of their Greek brother Stephanos.
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The Synagogue of the Freedmen included men who had been made captives of the Romans under Pompey but were afterwards set free; and who although they had fixed their abode in Rome, had built at their own expense a synagogue at Jerusalem which they frequented when in that city - Source
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More than murmuring, False Witness against Stephen

10 But they were unable to cope with his wisdom and the Spirit by whom he was speaking. Then they secretly induced men to say,

“We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.”
Acts 6:11b – false witness against Stephanos by some men of the libertinus

Why would liberated Jews (with their own synagogues) oppose these new rabbis?
- the Synagogue of the Freedmen, including
  - both Cyrenians
    a large and very flourishing city of Libya Cyrenaica or Pentapolitana, about 11 miles (17 km) from the sea. Among its inhabitants were a great number of Jews, whom Ptolemy I. had brought there, and invested with the right of [Roman] citizens
  - and Alexandrians,
    Ἀλεξανδρεύς Alexandria in Egypt
  - and some from Cilicia
    Κιλικία a maritime province in the southeast of Asia Minor, boarding on Pamphylia in the west, Lycaonia and Cappadocia in the north and Syria in the east. Its capital, Tarsus, was the birth place of Paul – source
  - and Asia,
    Ἀσία i.e. Asia Minor, or (usually) only its western shore:—Asia – proconsular Asia embracing Mysia, Lydia, Phrygia, and Caria, corresponding closely to Turkey today
These Hellenized Roman Jews competed with rabbis of other Jewish sects for influence in Jerusalem.

Speaking of murmuring..

12 They stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes; so they came, seized him, and took him to the Sanhedrin.

Πέτρος First Petrus and now this Στέφανος Stephanos

13 They also presented false witnesses..
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This strategy of an alliance between the libertines and more orthodox Jews against Jesus had worked before Pilate just a few months ago.
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.. for we have heard him say that this Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses handed down to us.”
ACTS of false witness against Stephen by the Freedmen 6:14 NASB

στέφανος Stephen
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στέφανος stéphanos, stef'-an-os; 
from an apparently primary στέφω stéphō (to twine or wreathe);
 a chaplet (as a badge of royalty, a prize in the public games or a symbol of honor generally; 
but more conspicuous and elaborate than the simple fillet, G1238), 
literally or figuratively:—crown.
```
Stephen is about to become the angelic crown of witness to the first century church.

To be continued…
January 3, 2022
That’s Not Fair! Possessions and Community
The Saga of Ananias and Saphira

From a background of my own evangelical christian American thinking I had always squirmed with a certain sense of unfairness that Ananias and Saphira died instantly at Peter’s feet when the Apostle confronted them about a sale of THEIR OWN possessions.

Wasn’t the profit from THEIR MONEY from a SALE of their land one of the most generous GIFTS of CHARITY anyone could have given to the Apostles? They gave most of it to the CHURCH. It was certainly more than a 10% tithe.

So how much should Anaias and Saphira have given to the CHURCH?

Our Offerings to ‘the church’

Here’s MY gentile ALL-AMERICAN take on what Peter and the Apostles should have expected.
- Wouldn’t giving EVERYTHING to the Apostles make the saints of the first century Church COMMUNISTS, or at the very least SOCIALISTS?
The COMMUNITY of the Jerusalem Church seems unlike everything WE THE PEOPLE of the United States have come to expect as a 21st century christian ‘church.’ Yet most of our our preachers love to proclaim such generous gifts of substance from leading contributers like Ananias and Saphira to the church. (We know who they are.)
- How many of US would sell our possessions just to give money to our local church?
- WHY would GOD strike DEAD any believer in Jesus for holding back a few possessions for themselves?
  - It seems ‘un-American, doesn’t it?
  - OUR hearts recoil as our tongues to cry out, ‘THIS IS UNFAIR.’
ACTS of the Church in context
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Most Christians know this story from ACTS 5:1-11 and the generosity of Joseph of Cypress from the preceeding two verses in Acts 4.
 
I have not skipped this story until now to avoid controversial contempory issues, but rather to maintain a storyline of Peter as the first leader of the Church.
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A Chronological context of Acts from a first century perspective

Luke published Acts of the Apostles in about

the year of our Lord, 62,

just prior to empire-wide persecution of the Jews (including the sect of Christ followers) and the Jerusalem War which led to its fall in A.D. 70.

The Forgotten Saga of The Way

Christians reading Luke’s historical account of events some thirty years earler (in ~A.D. 30’s) would already have suffered persecution, loss of their possessions and lands, and even deaths of family and other saints of their church as most fled with little left to places of reletive safety.

This sect of The Way, along with Jerusalem’s former ruling classes, would no longer have enough possessions to sustain daily life in Jerusalem, some even without food to eat.

Why DO the nations rage?

We looked at a few of these AD 1st century events earlier

Short list of a few more historical events impacting AD 1st century readers of ACTS;

source
- 28 AD John the Baptist is executed by Herod Antipas, son of King Herod in Judaea.
- 32 – 36 AD Estimated date of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
- 44 AD Judaea is annexed as a Roman province after the death of Herod Agrippa.
- 49 AD Claudius passes an edict expelling all Jews from Rome.
- 64 AD The Great Fire of Rome speculated to have been started by Nero to make room for his palace. Christians Persecuted as scapegoats. Nero begins construction of the domus aurea (the Golden House).
- 67 AD The future Emperor Vespasian is sent to Judaea to put down a Jewish revolt.
  - Death of Paul the Apostle.
Some believe Luke wrote Acts after the fall of Jerusalem (A.D. 70; his death was probably in the mid-eighties).
It is more likely, however, that he wrote much earlier, before the end of Paul’s first Roman imprisonment (ca. A.D. 60–62).
John MacArthur :: Bible Introductions – Acts

Early examples of faith

Who should these new disciples of the Apostles ACT like during these desparate times of yet another jewish diaspora due to persecution?

Certainly the daily lives of every saint of the early church read like an unseen saga of suffering known to early readers of the GOSPELS, ACTS OF THE APOSTLES, the EPISTLES and THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST to John.
Roger@TalkofJESUS.com

Possessions of the Church + Banking on the Risen Lord
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We return now to Luke's second account ACTS of the Apostles in about AD 32-36, as we have learned, and a fledgling gathering of saints in Jerusalem who increasingly must depend on the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the cohesion of love binding their community to each other.
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ACTS of the saints of the CHURCH 4:

The Apostolic Community of 1st Century Jerusalem

Luke reveals their agreement or community compact:

For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales and lay them at the apostles’ feet, and they would be distributed to each to the extent that any had need.
ACTS of the Jerusalem church 4:34-35 NASB – AD 30’s

This NEW community in the Spirit of The Way in Jerusalem applied Christ’s love for each other AND IT WORKED.

Luke tells later saints of the church how the Apostles gave us this example.

Luke begins with a positive example.

Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus by birth, the one the apostles called Barnabas, (translated Son of Encouragement) sold a field he owned..

Joseph, from the priestly Levitical line, is a faithful Jew who traveled to Jerusalem for its major festivals. Then after the Holy Spirit fills the community of faith on Pentecost, Barnabas (Joseph) fully commits to this new community of The Way led by the Apostles.

Joseph of Cypress (Barnabas) sold a field he owned, brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
ACTS 4:37 CSB

Luke encourages the poor and needy commuinties of Christ who will read of their sacrificial generocity years later while many saints suffer severe persecution.

32 Now the multitude of those who believe 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.
.. 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.
ACTS 4:33,35b-36 NKJV of the Jerusalem Chruch after Pentrecost

Luke continues with a negative example

Are these really YOUR possessions?

ACTS 5 of Ananias & Saphira

Lying to the Holy Spirit

But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession.

Unlike Joseph of Cypress, Luke does not give us much detail about this couple, but his name, Ananias, would have been familiar in their community of fellow Jews.

Ἁνανίας – Ananías, an-an-ee’-as; of Hebrew origin (H2608); Ananias, the name of three Israelites:—Ananias.
1. a certain Christian [at Jerusalem], the husband of Sapphira: Acts 5:1-6.
2. a Christian of Damascus: Acts 9:10-18; Acts 22:12
3. a son of Nedebaeus, and high priest of the Jews circa A.D. 47-59.
Ananias = “whom Jehovah has graciously given”

(Luke the gentile Physician likely understands this irony as will the Apostles.)

The Hebrew root of Ananias also points to a familiar Scriptural example from Daniel: חֲנַנְיָה
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Hananiah = "God has favoured"

the godly friend of Daniel whom Nebuchadnezzar renamed Shadrach; one of the three friends who with Daniel refused to make themselves unclean by eating food from the king's table which went against the dietary laws which God had given the Jews; also one of the three who were thrown into the fiery furnace for refusing to bow down to a graven image of Nebuchadnezzar and who were saved by the angel of the Lord.

source: BlueLetterBible.org Lexicon :: Strong's H2608 - ḥănanyâ
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Ananias is a leading man of means among these five hundred or so followers of the Apostles. And he has sold some of his possessions for the church to graciously give to others in need of his charity.

(But is their generous gift to the church truly their own?)

Psalm 104 excerpt
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מָֽה־רַבּוּ מַעֲשֶׂיךָ יְֽהוָה כֻּלָּם בְּחָכְמָה עָשִׂיתָ מָלְאָה הָאָרֶץ קִנְיָנֶֽךָ׃

  יִתַּמּוּ חַטָּאִים מִן־הָאָרֶץ וּרְשָׁעִים עוֹד אֵינָם בָּרֲכִי נַפְשִׁי אֶת־יְהוָה הַֽלְלוּ־יָֽהּ׃
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LORD, how many are Your works!
In wisdom You have made them all;
The earth is full of Your possessions…

May sinners be removed from the earth
And may the wicked be no more.
Bless the LORD, my soul.
Praise the LORD!
Tehillim (Psalms) 104:24,35 :: Westminster Leningrad Codex (WLC), NASB20

His ‘portion’ of the proceeds

ACTS 5:2 However, he kept back part of the proceeds with his wife’s knowledge, and brought a portion of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

WHY?
- Didn’t Luke tell us that ALL brought the proceeds of the things that were sold and laid them at the apostles’ feet?
- AND also, these ACTS of GENEROSITY of ALL sharing ALL of their possessions resulted in
  - the Apostles distributing to each as anyone had need?
The offering of Anaias’ portion of the sale may have exceeded the value of what most could contribute who shared everything they sold. So often leading contributors of the Church receive public accolades for their ‘generosity.’

Yet what had Peter learned from Jesus preaching about our portion of riches?

Gospel of Luke 12:– Lying to the HOLY SPIRIT & GREED

10 “And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him;

but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him.

“Now when they bring you before the synagogues and the officials and the authorities, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”

Peter and ALL of those touched by the tongues of fire on Pentecost have already experienced this.

But in this same teaching, Jesus warns again of the danger of riches to those who would cling to their possessions.

“Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one is affluent does his life consist of his possessions.” And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man was very productive..
Gospel of Luke 12:15b-16[21] NASB20 – Jesus cautioning against greed

AND IN THE END of Jesus’ parable:
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We know the expression, but hear little of it's context: EAT, DRINK AND BE MERRY..

‘And I will say to my [SOUL], “You have many goods stored up for many years to come; relax, eat, drink, and enjoy yourself!”’
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“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is demanded of you; and as for all that you have prepared, who will own it now?’
Gospel of Luke 12:[19-20] NASB20

Why do you lie to the HOLY SPIRIT?

ACTS 5: of their Deceit

3 But Peter said,

“Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control?

Why is it that you have conceived this deed 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.

6 And the young men arose and wrapped him up, carried him out, and buried him.
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FAR DIFFERENT from our 21st century receiving of this weeks 'offering' when we are obliged to put something in the basket (or plate) rather anonomously.
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Saphira
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I might easily expound at length on Saphira's role as the wife of Ananias. 

Should she agree with her husband's dishonesty OR tell the truth even when her husband is dishonest? 

Just a Scriptures familiar to her for your own consideration:
All quotes from BlueLetterBible.org 
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- and they shall become one flesh. – Genesis 2:24b
- There certainly was no one like Ahab who gave himself over to do evil in the sight of the LORD, because Jezebel his wife incited him. – 1 Kings 25:25
- His wife said to him, “Are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die.” But Job replied, “You talk like a foolish woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?” So in all this, Job said nothing wrong. – Job 2:9-10
- An excellent wife is the crown of her husband,
  - But she who shames him is like rottenness in his bones. – Proverbs 12:4
“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.
Gospel of Luke 14:26 + a caution of JESUS – v.27 “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.

SAPHIRA, one with ANANIAS as his wife had a choice: Yet both also gave their word to the Apostles to remain one with the community of Christ in the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Which choice will SHE make when confronted by truth?

Three Hours Later
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Perhaps she had been window shopping in Jerusalem for some new clothes or possions appropriate to their high status. Maybe she had asked Ananias for some of their new-found profit. (This is just spectulation.)
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ACTS 5: of Saphira

..his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.

8 Peter asked her, “Was this the price you and your husband received for your land?”

“Yes,” she replied, “that was the price.”

9 Then Peter said to her, “Why did you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord?

She must have immediately wondered, ‘HOW does he know that Ananias received more? I never thought that Ananias would cave in and tell him.’

Peter continues as she stands before these witnesses in shock at his words and she hears some men approaching the door of their meeting place..

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

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.

Are your possessions worth your soul?
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ACTS of the Apostles - To be continued...
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December 8, 2021