NEW NORMAL | Week 4 | Sermon · Rewind

NEW NORMAL | Week 4 | Sermon · Rewind

Pastor Bill Bush · Aug 28, 2023

Big Idea

Quoting the message: A transformed heart acts from love, not lies, end quote. — if you truly know Christ, your life flows from love, not from lies you're believing.

A heart truly transformed by Christ is set free to love God and love others, and it shows in what we do with our time, talents, and treasure. The danger, seen vividly in Ananias and Sapphira, is pretending to be more spiritual than we are — acting the impostor rather than living out real faith, something God takes far more seriously than we tend to.

Key points

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1United in heart and mind means believers become part of something bigger than personal spiritual gain.
Pastor Bill walks through Acts 4:32, explaining that being a believer means trusting Jesus as the source of life, not just a resource for it. Being united in heart and mind means Christians aren't just personally growing but are joined to a shared purpose — 'I am the church,' not just someone who goes to one.
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2American culture's obsession with identity-through-work fights against being truly connected in community.
He cites a statistic about declining church attendance and explains the deeper cause: our culture builds identity around work and achievement, which crowds out real belonging. This produces Christians who sit in a row but refuse to get into the circles of real community.
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3The early church saw themselves as stewards, not owners, which freed them to love people and use things instead of the reverse.
Pastor Bill notes the believers sold property and shared freely because they realized what they owned was not their own. He clarifies this isn't a call to socialism or wealth redistribution, but a principle: because Christ is our life, we hold time, talent, treasure and testimony open-handed out of love, not law.
4
4Barnabas gives the good example — a genuine, generous life that encouraged others toward Christ.
He tells the story of Barnabas, the 'son of encouragement,' who sold a field and gave the money, and who later championed both Paul and John Mark. Barnabas models a transformed heart acting from real love rather than performance.
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5Ananias and Sapphira show what happens when people pretend to be spiritual instead of actually being transformed.
He walks through Acts 5:1-10: the couple sold property, gave part, but claimed it was the full amount, wanting to look more generous and spiritual than they were. Peter's confrontation reveals the sin wasn't withholding money — it was lying, acting from a lie rather than love, and both fell dead when confronted.
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6Legalism is the hidden root — asking 'how little can I give' instead of loving out of freedom.
Pastor Bill explains legalism as a contractual view of God where obedience is minimized to look right rather than flowing from love. He contrasts this with grace rightly understood, warning that many mistake grace as permission to keep living the old life instead of true transformation.
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7The fear of the Lord is awe mixed with intimacy, and it's meant to bring wisdom, not abuse.
He points to Acts 5:11 and 9:31 to show the church grew stronger while living in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit together. Using the memory of his own father's loving but firm discipline, he explains true fear of God is not abusive terror but reverence rooted in knowing His holiness and love together.

Application

Pastor Bill's closing question is the charge itself: are you a Barry or a Barnabas?

Stop pretending to be more spiritual than you are
If you've been performing faith to be seen as generous or committed, stop hiding and let people see who you really are instead of chasing false praise like Ananias and Sapphira.
Trade legalism's math for love's freedom
Instead of asking how little you can give or serve, let your view of God's holiness and grace move you to go all in with your time, talent, treasure, and testimony out of love, not obligation.
Get into real community, not just a row
Stop sitting in church while refusing to get into the circles of relationship; let people actually know you, since that's part of what it means to be united in heart and mind.
Let the fear of the Lord grow your wisdom
Hold awe of God's holiness together with intimacy with His love this week, rather than assuming His patience with your half-in faith means He accepts it.
Choose to be a Barnabas
Decide this week to be the encourager who genuinely gives and loves rather than the impostor chasing glory, and ask God to show where you're only playing games with your faith.

Take it into your week

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7-day devotional

A personal reading plan from this message — scripture, reflection, and prayer for each day.

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Day 1

There is something striking about the early church — not their programs or their buildings, but the way they described themselves: one heart, one mind. Pastor Bill pointed to this verse as a picture of what genuine faith produces. When you truly believe that Jesus is both Savior and Lord, it changes not only your relationship with God but your relationship with everyone else who belongs to Him. You are no longer a collection of individuals who happen to show up at the same place. You are joined to one another in shared purpose. That kind of unity is not manufactured by trying harder or agreeing to a set of rules. It grows out of a common center — a shared conviction that Jesus is worth everything. When that conviction is real, the walls that normally keep people at arm's length begin to come down. You start to see the person next to you not as a stranger or a competitor, but as a fellow traveler on the same road. It is worth sitting with this honestly. Is the faith you carry something that actually connects you to others, or has it mostly remained a private matter? The early believers were not lone rangers. Their unity was the evidence that something real had happened to them. The same is available to you.

For reflection

In what ways has your faith in Jesus genuinely drawn you closer to other people — and where might you still be keeping your distance?

Pray

Pray for a heart that genuinely wants to be known and to know others in community, not just to attend it.

Small-group discussion guide

For leading a group conversation about this message.

Open

This message takes a hard look at the early church — a community so transformed by grace that generosity and honesty flowed naturally from their faith — and at one couple whose story became a warning the church never forgot.

Discussion questions

1
Acts 4:32 describes the early believers as 'one in heart and mind' — not just theologically, but in how they lived together. What do you think that kind of unity actually looked like day to day, and what made it possible?
2
In Acts 5:1–4, Peter tells Ananias that his sin wasn't keeping some of the money — it was pretending he had given all of it. What's the difference between those two things, and why does that distinction seem to matter so much to God?
Related passage
3
Pastor Bill connected Ananias and Sapphira's deception to the oldest lie in the Bible — that we can't fully trust God, so we have to hold something back. Where do people tend to operate out of that kind of hidden distrust, even inside a church community?
Related passage
4
Acts 9:31 pairs 'the fear of the Lord' with 'the comfort of the Holy Spirit' as if they belong together. How do those two things fit together — and how might holding both of them change the way a community of believers lives?
5
Pastor Bill made the point that you can do the right thing for the wrong reason, and it's still wrong — that God is after love, not performance. How might a community tell the difference between those two motivations, in itself or in its culture?
6
Pastor Bill challenged everyone to ask honestly: Am I a Barnabas or a Barry — someone genuinely loving and giving, or someone performing spirituality for the praise it brings? If a community wanted to move more toward the Barnabas side together, what would that actually require?

Pray together

Honest hearts — asking God to replace the impulse to perform with the freedom to love genuinely, because of how deeply He loves us

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Topics

Authentic Faith Fear of the Lord Generosity and Stewardship Grace and Transformation Spiritual Honesty

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