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A Great Lie

January 19, 2025 Preacher: Dan Wong Series: Acts

Passage: Acts 5:1–16

Click here to see the sermon discussion questions or see them listed below. We highly encourage you to listen, think, and talk about the sermon. These are questions you can reflect on by yourself, with your family, or with your small group.

 

Sermon Discussion Questions:

  1. Luke tells the tragic story of Ananias and Sapphira directly on the heels of his idyllic account of the incredible love and unity the early church had, as they shared everything with one another and there was no one in need.  Why do you think Luke did this?  What contrast do you think he was trying to emphasize and why might it be important for us to understand this?

  2. Ananias and Sapphira sold a property and donated a portion of the proceeds to the church. For this, they were both killed.  Do you think their punishment was extreme?  Why or why not?   What is so wrong with lying to and testing the Holy Spirit of the Lord?  Have you ever done something similar?  If so, why are you still alive? 

  3. In 2 Timothy 3 Paul warns us that people will be lovers of self and pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.  In Matthew 15 Jesus condemned the Pharisees as hypocrites, invoking Isaiah’s prophetic condemnation that they were a people who “honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me”  What do these people, along with Ananias and Sapphira, have in common?  What do you think is the root cause that leads people to do such things?  How can we avoid becoming like them?

  4. What role, if any, do you think Satan played in this tragic story of Ananias and Sapphira?  Have you ever viewed selfishness as satanic?  What should we learn from this and how can we avoid the devil’s snares?

  5. No one ever starts off dreaming about one day becoming the biggest hyocrite the world has ever seen.  However, we can become just like Ananias and Sapphira slowly, over time if we’re not careful.  How can you and I avoid caring more about the world and its pleasures & accolades than about God and His honor & glory? 

  6. After Ananias and Sapphira are struck down by God, great fear came upon the whole church, and understandably so!  If this were to happen in a church today, what do you think would happen to that church?  Would you expect it to shrink or grow?  In our passage we are told that although many were hesitant to join them, “more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women”  Why do you think this was so?  What does this tell us about the importance of God’s holiness and our own hatred of sin?

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