Episode NT40 – Ananias and Sapphira

Story 40 – Ananias and Sapphira

Based on Acts chapter 4 verses 32 to 37 & chapter 5 verse 1 to 16

The thing about praying is that God answers your prayers – and the new church in Jerusalem had just prayed for great boldness when speaking about Jesus and the Kingdom of God. They had also asked for healing power and for signs and wonders to be done in the name of Jesus. And, in answer to that prayer and as confirmation that the Lord had heard and would give them what they’d asked for, the building they were in was shaken. As that happened, once again, they were filled with the Holy Spirit and went out preaching about Jesus with great boldness.

They also found that they were one in heart and mind – they belonged to each other as brothers and sisters. No one felt that what they owned was theirs alone, but was to be shared by everyone in the church as needed. This meant that, at times, some in the church would sell houses or land and bring the proceeds from that sale to the apostles so that they could distribute it as required, with the result that there were no needy people in the church.

An example of this was a man known as Barnabas. His real name was Joseph and he was from the tribe of Israel called the Levites who helped in the Temple, although his family was actually from Cyprus! He was known as Barnabas because it means ‘son of encouragement’ and that seemed to sum up who he was – so the nickname had stuck! One day Barnabas sold some land he owned, probably back in Cyprus and, when the money arrived, he brought it to the apostles and laid it at their feet to indicate that he was happy for them to use it in any way they saw fit.

However, when the enemy of the church, the devil, saw what Barnabas and many others were doing, he saw an opportunity to destroy the church, to make it rotten from the inside out and he looked for – and found – a couple in the church who he could use for his wicked purposes.

The idea was simple, destroy the church by destroying its integrity. Make one person a liar and the whole testimony of the church would be rubbished, with conflict and mayhem following in its wake.

The enemy prepared his attack well by playing on the pride and vanity of Ananias and his wife, Sapphira. They had watched as people like Barnabas had brought the money from the sale of land and houses to the apostles. No doubt the devil had encouraged them to feel envious of the way Barnabas was thanked, trying to make them believe that there was some kind of spiritual elite they could be part of. He must have reminded them that they also had some land they could sell and, just as they were about to sell the land so that they could look good in the eyes of people, the devil must have caused them to doubt the faithfulness of God. After all, selling a piece of land and giving the money away was a big thing to do – you couldn’t just get it back later! So the devil encouraged them to come up with a plan that would give them the best of both worlds: the security of a nice little hidden nest-egg from the sale of the land, while at the same time appearing to be one of the supposed spiritual elite by their giving. All they had to do was tell the apostles their plan to sell the piece of land, but not tell them the truth about the actual price they were going to get for it. It seemed such a small lie. They were going to give MOST of the money away and only keep back SOME for themselves. No one else need know except them. The buyer wasn’t part of the church and so they felt their secret would be safe.

When the transaction was completed, the day arrived when Ananias brought the money to the apostles. He brought most of what the land had actually sold for – and the exact amount he’d told the apostles it had sold for! So, walking up to Peter, knowing that all eyes were on him, Ananias swelled with pride. He was part of the elite now, they would look up to him after such sacrificial giving. No doubt with a pious and holy expression on his face, he placed the money at Peter’s feet. But that’s when it all went wrong, for you can hide nothing from God!

‘Ananias,’ asked Peter, ‘why have you let Satan fill your heart? You’ve lied to the Holy Spirit and kept back some of the money you got from selling the land for yourself!’

This was not going the way Ananias had expected. His holy expression dropped and a look of horror and shame fell across his face.

Then Peter continued, ‘The property was yours before you sold it – you didn’t have to sell it. And, after you’d sold it, didn’t the money from the sale belong to you to do whatever you wanted with it? How could you do something like this? Don’t you realise that you aren’t lying to us, but to God?’

No sooner had Peter stopped speaking than Ananias fell to the floor and died. (P) As you can imagine, everyone who heard what had happened was terrified! Some of the young men quickly wrapped up his body in a sheet and took it out to bury.

Satan’s plan was failing – and worse, the exact opposite to his intention was happening. Instead of others becoming hypocrites, saying one thing and doing another, everyone realised that God was watching them and they needed to be careful to continue to please and honour Him, knowing that you can’t hide ANYTHING from God.

About three hours later, Sapphira, Ananias’ wife, arrived, not knowing what’d happened to her husband. No doubt she too was excited about how holy the others would think she was and was eager to accept thanks from those they’d helped. But, instead of the smiles and gratitude she’d expected, she found herself face to face with Peter while the others looked on, serious expressions etched on their faces.

‘Tell me, Sapphira,’ Peter asked straight away, showing her the money he’d received from her husband, ‘was this the price you and your husband received for your land?’

Although alarm bells were ringing in her head, her course of action had been set in stone when she’d agreed with her husband to lie to the apostles about the full figure they’d got for the land. To change her story now was to drop herself and her husband into very hot water and so the lie continued. ‘Yes,’ she replied, ‘that is the price we got for the land.’

Peter’s heart must have been breaking as he heard Sapphira’s reply. The Lord Himself had revealed to him that it wasn’t true – that this was an attempt by the devil to get in and corrupt the church. And then the Lord also revealed to Peter what would happen next. Looking Sapphira in the eye, he shook his head and said, ‘How could the two of you even think of plotting together to test the Spirit of the Lord like this?’ Then, with a deep sigh he added, ‘The young men who buried your husband are just outside the door, and they will also carry you out and bury you.’

At that moment, Sapphira fell to the floor and died, just as her husband had done. Then, as Peter had said, the young men who’d buried her husband came back through the door and found her dead body. They picked her up and buried her beside her husband.

Such fear gripped the entire church and everyone else who heard about these things. The devil’s plans had failed and, instead of weakening the church, had strengthened it in line with the prayer they’d prayed. They’d asked for boldness, healings and signs and wonders – maybe not realising that ‘wonders’ could come in many different ways. And, these ‘wonders’ caused the church to stay pure.

The apostles performed many more miraculous signs and wonders in addition to what had happened to Ananias and Sapphira. The church, growing at a tremendous rate, met regularly at the Temple in an area know as ‘Solomon’s Colonnade’. No one else dared to disturb or join them there, no doubt mindful of what had happened to Ananias and Sapphira. But even so, in answer to their prayer, more and more people believed what the apostles boldly preached about Jesus and were brought to the Lord – crowds of them, both men and women.

In fact, as a result of the work of the Holy Spirit through the apostles, sick people were brought out into the streets on beds and mats so that Peter’s shadow might fall across them as he passed by. It wasn’t superstition, but an acknowledgement that God was powerfully at work through His people. Of course, this kind of news couldn’t stay hidden and spread to the villages around Jerusalem so that many people were brought from the villages who were sick or demon possessed and every one of them was healed!

Episode NT29 – Gethsemane

tale2tell original Bible Stories series – New Testament

Based on Matthew chapter 26 verses 30 to 69

Gethsemane

DISCIPLE ANDREW ‘After we’d shared our meal together and Judas had left, we went to a place we often went to together, to a hill nearby called the Mount of Olives. As we were walking along Jesus spoke to us. ‘Tonight,’ He said, ‘every one of you will desert me. For it’s written in the Scriptures, ‘I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered’. But after I’ve risen from the dead, I’ll go ahead of you to Galilee and meet you there.’’

‘Once again my brother Peter was the first to speak. ‘But Lord,’ he said, ‘Even if everyone else leaves you, I never will!’’

‘Jesus stopped for a moment and looked at us. ‘Peter,’ He replied, ‘the truth is, this very night before the cockerel crows you will have said three times that you don’t know me.’’

‘’No way!’ Peter insisted. ‘Even if I have to die with You, I wouldn’t deny I knew You!’ And all the rest of us said the same thing.’

‘When we arrived at a garden full of olive trees called Gethsemane, Jesus told us, ‘Sit here while I go on ahead to pray.’ Taking Peter, James and John with Him He began to be filled with sorrow, anguish and deep distress. Turning to the three of them He said, ‘My soul is overwhelmed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and pray with me.’ Then, going a little further on by Himself, He fell face down on the ground and prayed, ‘Father if it’s possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. (P) And yet, I want what You want, not what I want.’’

‘After Jesus’d prayed this prayer He got up and went back to see Peter, James and John, but they’d fallen asleep. So waking Peter up He said, ‘Peter, couldn’t you stay awake and pray with me for just one hour? Keep alert and pray otherwise temptation will overpower you! Because, even though the spirit is willing, the body is weak!’’

‘Then Jesus left the three of them and went back to pray, ‘My father. If this cup of suffering cannot be taken away until I drink it, then may Your will be done.’ Once again, after praying, Jesus returned to find His disciples sleeping. They were so tired they just couldn’t keep their eyes open. And so He went back a third time to pray, praying the same thing. ‘My father. If this cup of suffering cannot be taken away until I drink it, then may Your will be done.’

‘Then coming a third time to His disciples He woke them from their sleep. ‘Still sleeping?’ He said, ‘Still resting? Look, the hour has come and I, the Son of Man, have been betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up! Let’s go, my betrayer has arrived!’’

‘Even while He was speaking Judas Iscariot, one of His closest disciples, one of the 12 of us, arrived with a crowd of people sent by the chief Priests armed with swords and clubs. Judas had arranged a special signal with the crowd so that they’d know who to arrest. ‘This is how you’ll know who Jesus is,’ he’d told them, ‘He’ll be the one I greet with a welcoming kiss.’ And so, walking straight up to Jesus he said, ‘Greetings Teacher,’ and gave Him a kiss.’

‘I can’t even begin to imagine how Jesus felt. One of His closest friends, a disciple, someone who’d shared His food, was betraying Him! But looking at Judas He said, ‘My friend, do what you came to do.’ And at that, others from the crowd grabbed Jesus and arrested Him.’

‘It was then that my brother Peter decided he ought to show Jesus just how ready he was to die for Him. And so, grabbing a sword, he slashed at the first person he came across who happened to be the servant of the high priest. It wasn’t a very effective blow, but it did cut off his ear!’

‘Put your sword away!’ Jesus shouted. ‘Don’t you know that those who use the sword will die by the sword? Don’t you realise that if I wanted to I could ask My Father to send twelve legions of angels to protect us and He would send them at once! (P) But if that happened, then how would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen this way?’

‘Then reaching out His hand, Jesus touched the high priest’s servant’s ear and healed him. Turning to the crowd, Jesus asked, ‘Every day I sat in the Temple courts teaching and you didn’t arrest me. So why have you come to me now with swords and clubs as if I were some kind of dangerous criminal starting a rebellion? But this is happening to fulfil the words the prophets wrote as recorded in the Scriptures.’ (P) To my shame, it was then that all the rest of us, His disciples, His closest friends – ran away and deserted Him, fearful for our own lives.’ (PAUSE)

‘Jesus was led to the house of Caiaphas the high Priest where all the teachers of the Law and other leaders had gathered, even though it was the early hours of the morning. I found out later that Peter followed on behind, a long way back, and eventually made his way into the courtyard of the house, waiting to see what would happen to Jesus.’

‘There was nothing legal or right about that gathering. Such was their hatred for Jesus that they were prepared to break their own laws to make sure they got rid of Him, even if that meant meeting in the middle of the night! And so Jesus stood in the middle of this illegal court waiting to hear what they’d say as the entire council tried to find witnesses to tell lies about Him. But the law said there had to be at least two witnesses to any charge if the person was to be found guilty! The witnesses they brought against Jesus told all kinds of lies, but none of them could agree – so they were worthless. Finally, the council brought forward two men who shouted, ‘This man Jesus said He’s able to destroy the Temple of God and rebuild it again in just three days!’ But even these men didn’t get their stories straight!’

‘The high Priest knew he was losing the argument, but he couldn’t give up now and let Jesus go. He had to do something, anything, to get Jesus to say something that could be used against Him. And so, once again breaking the law by asking Jesus to answer a question that the law said He didn’t have to answer, the high priest shouted at Jesus, ‘I demand in the name of the living God that you tell us whether you’re the Messiah, the Son of God – or not.’’ (PAUSE)

‘If Jesus said no, they’d have to let Him go. But Caiaphas knew He wouldn’t – or couldn’t – say no, because it would have been a lie. So raising His head to look at them, Jesus answered Caiaphas’ question. ‘Yes, it is as you say. And the day will come when you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of God in the place of power – and coming back on the clouds of heaven.’’

‘At last, Caiaphas had got something he could work with. So in a show of mock horror he stood up and tore his clothes shouting, ‘Blasphemy! He has spoken blasphemy claiming to make Himself equal with God! Why do we need any more witnesses? You have all heard His blasphemy with your own ears. What’s your verdict?’ (P) It would only be blasphemy if it wasn’t true – but this court wasn’t interested in truth; its only interest was in getting rid of Jesus once and for all.’

‘’Guilty!’ came back the shouts from the crowd. ‘He is guilty of blasphemy and must die!’’

‘After this, they spat in Jesus’ face and hit Him with their fists. Some of them even slapped Him and jeered at Him, ‘prophesy to us, Messiah! Who hit you this time?’

Episode NT15 – Feeding the Hungry

tale2tell original Bible Stories series – New Testament

Based on John chapter 6 verses 1 to 15

Feeding the Hungry

‘My name’s Andrew, I’m Simon Peter’s brother and I’ve been following Jesus since He started His work here. It’s been an amazing time. I’ve seen things you couldn’t even imagine. The sick being healed, the demon-possessed being freed and even the dead brought back to life.’

‘But even though Jesus did such amazing things, He was always concerned that the people heard His message. There was an urgency within Him that everyone should know that the Kingdom of God was coming and that they should be ready by turning away from all their sinful and selfish ways and turning back to God.’

‘One day, Jesus called the twelve of us together and spoke to us. As He spoke, He gave us authority to make evil spirits come out of people and to heal every disease! Then He told us, ‘Go into the surrounding towns and villages, heal their sick and tell all the people that the Kingdom of God is about to come. Don’t take anything with you, no bag, no food and no money. And when you enter a village don’t stay in different houses, stay in just one house. And if the people in that village refuse to accept the message you bring them, then as you leave shake the dust off your feet as a witness against them.’’

‘So we did what Jesus asked us to do. With the power He’d given us we healed the sick and we cast out demons, and most important of all, we told the people the message Jesus had given us to pass on. ‘The Kingdom of God is coming.’’ (PAUSE)

‘When we came back we told Him of all the incredible things that’d happened, and Jesus decided it’d be wise for us to get away from the huge crowds that seemed to dog His tracks, and spend some time together alone. There were so many people constantly coming and going that we couldn’t even find time to eat! So we got into a boat and started to travel across the great lake once again.’

‘What we didn’t know, as we set sail and headed for a more peaceful area, was that some of the crowd had seen us go. And can you believe it, they ran round the lake to catch up with us, and as they went through each village, they’d point us out on the lake to the people of the village saying, ‘Look, you see that boat out there? That’s Jesus in there!’ But we didn’t know anything about this as we headed for a nice quiet spot a safe distance from the crowds, or so we thought!’

‘We saw them even before we landed. A huge crowd all wanting to see Jesus. The rest of us couldn’t believe it and to be honest we were – how should I put this – less than impressed. But not Jesus, He saw them for what they were, like sheep without a shepherd – needing to be taught and to hear from Him. So in His compassion He taught the great crowd many things and we all stayed there a long time.’

‘My tummy started to rumble about mid-afternoon. And by late afternoon we began to realise that if we didn’t get this massive crowd shifted soon there could be some real trouble. We’d come to such an isolated place, how were the people going to find food? We needed to send them on their way so that they could reach the villages and towns and farms in time to buy some food for themselves. So we went to Jesus, ‘Jesus,’ we said, ‘this is a pretty remote place and time’s going by. We think you should send the people away now so that they can get to the nearby farms and villages to buy themselves some food.’’

‘It seemed a reasonable enough suggestion to us, but can you imagine our astonishment when Jesus turned to us and said, ‘No, don’t send them away, you feed them!’’

‘‘What?’ we replied, ‘that’s impossible. It would cost a small fortune to feed this massive crowd! Not only that, but where are we going to find that much food in a place like this?’’

‘‘Well, how much food do you have?’ Jesus asked. ‘Go away and find out.’’

‘We didn’t have any food ourselves and to be honest we didn’t really know how to go about finding out how much food there was. As we stood there wondering what to do, a young lad came up to me. ‘Mister,’ he said. ‘I heard you talking to Jesus about needing some food. When my mum heard that Jesus was nearby and that I wanted to come and see Him for myself, she made me a packed lunch. It’s not much, but Jesus can have it if it’ll help.’ I smiled at him and chuckled to myself – his ‘packed lunch’ consisted of five barley bread rolls and a couple of fish!’

‘But even so I took it to Jesus. ‘Jesus,’ I said, ‘there’s this young lad here with five barley bread rolls and a couple of fish. What good that’ll do amongst such a huge crowd as this I don’t know.’’

‘One of those things we’d come to learn about Jesus was that you couldn’t always predict what He’d do. If it had been me, I don’t think I’d have thought twice about the young lad’s packed lunch. But Jesus smiled at the lad and accepted the packed lunch from him. Then he told us to make the people sit down on the grass in groups of fifty or a hundred.’

‘Taking the small packed lunch in His hands, Jesus looked up towards heaven and asked God’s blessing on the food. Then He started to break up the barley bread rolls and hand the pieces to us to pass on to the crowd. He just carried on breaking the bread into pieces. On and on He went, and then He started to break the fish up and pass them on to us to pass out to the crowds. Again and again we handed out all He’d given us and went back to Him to collect more. And still He carried on passing out the bread and fish, in fact, He didn’t stop passing out the bread and fish  until every single person had eaten all they wanted! And when I say every single person, we worked out just how many men there were in that crowd, excluding all the women and children. There were five thousand! Goodness knows how many people there must have been including all the women and children.’

‘When the people had finished eating all they wanted, Jesus sent the twelve of us around to pick up the leftover food. Each of us picked up a complete basket full of left-overs – twelve baskets full of bits and pieces that had come from five small barley loaves and two fish!’

Episode 10 – Abram and The Evil Cities

tale2tell original Bible Stories series – Old Testament

Based on Genesis chapters 17 to 19

Abram and The Evil Cities

When I was 99 years old, God met with me. First He changed my name from Abram to Abraham, which means ‘father of many’ and then He changed Sara’s name to Sarah, which means ‘princess’. And we found that it wasn’t Ishmael who would be the promised son, but a child still to be born to Sarah, who was already very old!’

‘A little while later, God appeared to me yet again, but this time it was different. Three men, well, I thought they were men at first, came near our tent. Because it was our custom to be friendly to strangers, I hurried over to invite them to come and have a meal with us. One of the men was God Himself, in the form of a man, the other two were angels also in the form of men. As they sat with me, God told me that now was the time for the promise to be fulfilled! Sarah was to have a son in one year’s time!’

‘Sarah was listening in the tent and laughed because she thought, ‘How can an old woman like me have a baby?’ But God always keeps His promises.’

‘As God left, I walked with Him towards those evil cites in the river valley where Lot lived. As we looked over them, He told me that He was going to destroy them because the people were so evil. But what about Lot! He was living in one of those evil cities. As the angels went on ahead, I took my courage into my own hands and spoke with God.’ (P – GULP)

‘Erm, if you find 50 good people living in that city, surely you wouldn’t destroy the good people with the evil ones?’

GOD ‘If I find 50 good people, I won’t destroy the city,’ said God.

ABRAHAM ‘ Now that I’ve found the courage to ask’, I continued. ‘What if you only find 45?’

GOD ‘If I only find 45, I won’t destroy the city.’

ABRAHAM ‘And so our conversation continued, I asked about 40, then 30, 20 and finally 10. And each time God said that if He found that number of good people He wouldn’t destroy the city. Then He left.’

‘Meanwhile the two angels had arrived in the city where Lot and his family lived. And, as they arrived Lot happened to be sitting by the gate and encouraged them to stay at his home. At first they said no, but Lot insisted because he knew they wouldn’t be safe in the city square at night.’

‘And as night fell, all the men of the city came to Lot’s house and hammered on the door. ‘Bring out those strangers Lot – we want to hurt them. And if you don’t, we’re going to hurt you.’

‘Lot went out and tried to reason with them but they attacked him, and the angels quickly pulled Lot back inside. Then they blinded the men to stop them from finding the door and breaking it down. – The angels spoke to Lot.’

ANGEL ‘Are there any other members of your family in the city?’

LOT ‘Well yes, there are my daughters’ fiancées.’ He said.

ANGEL ‘Get them and your family out of the city now because we’re going to destroy this city for all the evil the people have done. Be quick!’

ABRAHAM ‘Lot rushed out to his daughters’ fiancées.’

LOT ‘Boys, we’ve got to leave now. There’s no time to waste! God’s going to destroy the city, and you too if you don’t leave now.’

ABRAHAM ‘But the boys thought he was joking and ignored him. The next morning the angels were even more insistent.’

ANGEL ‘Hurry up, get your wife and two daughters out of the city or you too will be caught up in the destruction.’

ABRAHAM ‘But still Lot hesitated. Maybe be couldn’t cope with the thought of losing everything, but God was merciful to poor weak Lot. The angels grabbed him, his wife and his two daughters by their hands and dragged them out of the city.’

ANGEL ‘Now run for your lives.’ They said to Lot and his family. ‘Don’t stop and don’t look back. Escape to the mountains or you will die.’

LOT ‘The mountains! I can’t go to the mountains,’ moaned Lot, ‘I’d die. Look, there’s a small village just over there. Couldn’t I just go there and be safe.’

ABRAHAM ‘All his life Lot had ignored what God wanted, and even now, in fear of His life, still Lot wouldn’t obey God. But even so, God was merciful to Lot and the Angels let him escape to the small village. (P) Lot and his daughters ran on ahead to the village, but his wife lagged behind, and when the fire and burning sulphur of judgement fell from heaven, wave upon wave, utterly destroying those evil cities, Lot’s wife – looked back. Instantly God judged her for doing what He had told her not to do through the Angels and turned her into a pillar of salt.’ (PAUSE)

‘The next morning I went back to look over the river valley. The destruction was terrible. The smoke from the burning sulphur was rising in columns to the sky. But God had answered my prayer, Lot was safe, even though he hadn’t learnt anything from that terrible tragedy.’

‘As for Sarah and me? God kept His promise; at the ripe old age of 100 I became the proud father of a little son born to Sarah. It was a real miracle. (P) Sarah laughed when he was born. Saying ‘who’d have thought such a thing would happen to an old woman like me?’ (P) We named him Isaac, which means ‘he laughs’.’

‘Although – the joy of having Isaac was overshadowed when he and Ishmael didn’t get on. Sarah saw Ishmael bullying young Isaac one day, and that was that! Sarah made me send Hagar and Ishmael away! – But God looked after them – and kept His promise to give Ishmael more descendants than he could ever count!’

A Prayer for Power – Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3: 14-21

While this isn’t a story, I hope you’ll find it helpful as we think about all God wants to do in us and for us. This podcast looks at Paul’s prayer for POWER and tried to understand what that POWER was for and how it is supposed to function in our lives. It is one of the greatest prayers in the Bible and one that when answered will bring great glory to God while at the same time changing us completely. Have a listen and see what you think.