{"id":774,"date":"2013-03-11T10:56:34","date_gmt":"2013-03-11T10:56:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/2013\/03\/11\/if-we-really-dont-give-it-all-will-we-die\/"},"modified":"2013-03-11T10:56:34","modified_gmt":"2013-03-11T10:56:34","slug":"if-we-really-dont-give-it-all-will-we-die","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/2013\/03\/11\/if-we-really-dont-give-it-all-will-we-die\/","title":{"rendered":"If We Really DON’T Give It All, Will We Die?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Acts 5 \u2013 6<\/strong><\/p>\n

Verse 5:1 has a story I am not clear on:<\/p>\n

But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The story goes that Ananias sold his property and held back from giving all of the proceeds to the church with Sapphira\u2019s knowledge. Now from verse 4:32 said this group of followers agreed \u201cthe things that belonged to him was his own.\u201d So when Ananias held back some of the share of the home sale it was wrong. When questioned both hedged and lied, for that they both died.<\/p>\n

I get nervous with stories like this since we start things like a tithe, and decide it is God\u2019s. Then we stop, are we to die? Or if we lie about it, is that our punishment? Either way, I get nervous. Also, we are trying to sell a home, so this makes me wonder should I tithe the sale, the profits or everything? This really confuses me since death is the punishment for the act. I believe this is different since Ananias and Sapphira had pledged it all, so they could live in a \u201ccommunist utopia,\u201d but lied about the money.<\/p>\n

This gets used often to \u201cguilt\u201d people into tithing saying it\u2019s all God\u2019s anyway. Often Ananias is used as what happens when you hold back the tithe, when in actuality he was holding money that was way over the title. They had pledged all their money for building the kingdom, so holding back some was not right. Today that is used as an example of all the money being his, when in this instance it was all his because of a pledge. One can read this and think everyone needs to surrender all to the church, where as it\u2019s more an example of not doing what one says. No matter how you interpret it the end result is devastating.<\/p>\n

Verses 5:19 & 20 describe the apostles in jail:<\/p>\n

19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, 20 \u201cGo and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.\u201d <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What landed them in jail in the first place this angel is asking them to do again. This event enraged the Pharisees enough to want to kill them. To calm them down into not doing something rash, Gamaliel spoke sense into them by pointing to history. He talked about the others who had quickly risen to greatness only to fall away just as quick. Verses 5:38 & 39 is his summation:<\/p>\n

38 So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; 39 but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!\u201d So they took his advice, <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If something is of God it\u2019s impossible to stop, sure it may be slowed but ultimately God will prevail. If Gamaliel could see where the movement is today I believe he would be amazed. Think about how this grew from a small group in Israel to being followed over the entire globe. Sure we see numbers implying the message of Jesus is failing to other \u201creligious\u201d movements, but I believe that is using the numbers falsely to discredit followers of Jesus. We cannot let the popular belief of the day move us into changing what has been tried and true for over 2000 years.<\/p>\n

Verse 6:2 confuses me a little since the comment arose from conflict about widows being neglected:<\/p>\n

And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, \u201cIt is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is something that is common in many of the churches today, especially as they grow. Suddenly groups get missed because the jobs are great and the workers are few. I have heard this before in many churches where the people grumble about not being served by the leadership. In all honesty it is a problem that is correctly addressed here. The leaders must lead, and the \u201cflock\u201d must follow. Following as a Christian is not \u201cconsuming\u201d church, but being the church and serving where the needs are. Instead of grumbling that you or someone you know is not being helped, grab the bull by the horns and help!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Acts 5 \u2013 6 Verse 5:1 has a story I am not clear on: But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property The story goes that Ananias sold his property and held back from giving all of the proceeds to the church with Sapphira\u2019s knowledge. Now from verse 4:32 … Continue reading “If We Really DON’T Give It All, Will We Die?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}