Acts 5

http://www.esvbible.org/Acts+5/

The story of Ananias and his wife, Sapphira, is a little scary even today. They sold their land and had pledged to give the money they received to the apostles, but when they sold the land, they kept some of the money from the disciples. The Holy Spirit told Peter what happened, and when Ananias arrived, Paul asked him why he let Satan fool him into thinking he could trick the Holy Spirit. He said that while he owned the property, it was truly his, and after he sold it, he could have done whatever he liked with the money, but he promised God that he would give it to the apostles. Ananias lied to God, and for that, he dropped dead right there. That's scary. Never forget that GOD KNOWS EVERYTHING! There's nothing you can think or do that will fool Him or that He won't see. Additionally, God show how powerful and fierce He can be. We tend to think of God and Jesus as those paintings in church of the skinny guy with the beard and long hair who's always gentle. God has limitless power. He can kill a man who would not have died at that moment for any other reason. We do not serve a meek God. Later, Sapphira arrived, and she had not heard about what had happened to her husband, so when Peter asked her if they had turned over all of the money to the apostles from the property, she said that they had. Peter aks how she and Ananias could test the Lord, and she too dropped dead in front of all of them. When the people heard this story, they were terrified, as we should be when we read it today. Do not test the Lord because he will win.

At this time, the apostles performed many miracles through the Holy Spirit. This amazed the people, and more and more of them began joining the church. Right from the beginning, the church grows exponentially. God begins an uprising. He will not let His church die, so if there are people doing His work, He will bless them and they will prosper in their work. Even those who were too afraid to believe took their sick into the presence of Peter hoping that if his shadow landed on them the sick would be healed. There are always people searching for God all around us. They are searching for the cure to life and what can close the gap in their heart.

The Jewish officials were still afraid of the apostles and their news at this time. They feared God because  if the people listened to God and gave all of their worship to Him, then they would have no true power over the people. They thrived over the fines and keeping the laws. The apostles were spreading the word of Jesus quickly because the Holy Spirit blessed them and their work. He spoke through them to convey the message of Jesus. The officials threw them in jail, but that night, an angel appeared and released them from their holdings. He told them to go to the temple courtyard and begin teaching the people about Jesus. When the officials looked in the prison for them the next day, they could not find the apostles. They finally got word that the apostles had moved to the courtyard and began teaching about Jesus. When the officials heard this, they were furious. They took the apostles to court and told them that they have already been told and will be told again to stop spreading Jesus' word. One of the officials among them tells the others that if this movement is truly of human origin, then the Jewish leaders should not worry because there have been similar movements in the past that have failed. He also says, however, that if the movement comes form God, it will not fai, and it will gain huge support. This "movement" is still here today and as strong as ever. God backs Christianity. God has proved through the lasting effects of this movement that Jesus was no mere man but truly the Son of God. Before the council of Jewish officials frees the apostles, they beat them to discourage them from spreading Jesus' word. This only fuels them because it shows that if the officials are that afraid of them, then they must truly be making great progress.