Rivers and Roads Pt. 2 - Playing the Game - 6/20/2021

Pastor Dale Benson Acts 5:12-42 Happy Father’s Day! Last week Pastor John kicked off our summer series Rivers and Roads in the city of Jerusalem. We saw Peter and John healing the lame man at the entrance to the temple. They end up before the Sanhedrin. There is such an uproar or praise to God that the Sanhedrin can’t do anything to Peter and John, so when they get back and tell the church, everyone begins praising again and they are filled with the Holy Spirit, and they all go out and begin sharing the good news. That is some awesome stuff right there. And for a minute it gets even better. Acts 4:31-37 (NLT) - Let’s stop here for a second. This sounds like Utopia doesn’t it? Everyone just shared what they had. Acts 5:1-11 (NLT) 11 Great fear gripped the entire church and everyone else who heard what had happened. I know that at times people read this passage, and we can make it about money. The reality is, this passage is about lying and posturing, and attempting to impress people and fool God. This is not day one of the church, but it is pretty early, and we already find hypocrites at church. Don’t stop going to church because there are hypocrites there. God’s apparent lack of response to sin in your life is not evidence that God doesn’t know or care what is going on in your life. Acts 5:40-42 (NLT)