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Dover Assembly of God

5.27.2018 | Acts - Week 8

Locations & Times

4790 Carlisle Rd, Dover, PA 17315, USA

Sunday 10:30 AM

Welcome!

Welcome to Dover Assembly of God! We're glad that you've joined us this morning. If you're on Facebook, we encourage you to take a moment to check in at Dover Assembly.

http://facebook.com/doverassembly

This Week's Bulletin

May 27, 2018 Welcome to Dover Assembly! We are so glad you have chosen to attend Dover Assembly this morning. It is not by accident that you are here. We believe that God has allowed you to be here so that you might receive all that He has for you. We pray you are blessed as you allow the Lord to work in your life. THIS WEEK Today 9:00 am ~ Coffee & Donut Fellowship 9:30 am ~ Sunday School 10:30 am ~ R.O.C.K. Children’s Ministries 1:00 pm ~ Spanish Service Monday Memorial Day Wednesday 6:30 pm ~ FAMILY NIGHT MINISTRIES UPCOMING EVENTS VBS We have scheduled our VBS for July 8-11 from 6:30 pm—8:30 pm. Dustin Wible has volunteered to lead this tremendous outreach to our community. However, VBS requires all hands on deck to be successful. There is a sign up sheet in the lower foyer. Please add your name to the team! Begin praying now for God to use this to reach the children in our neighborhoods. District Kids & Youth Camp If your elementary student or teenager is interested in attending this summer’s kids or youth camp, please see Pastor Jeff for the information. Deadline for registering is TOMORROW! Leader's Meeting There will be a leader’s meeting following the morning service on Sunday, June 3. If you are a part of our leadership team, please mark your calendars and plan on attending. Men's Dinner The guys will be meeting at Mission BBQ on Thursday June 7 at 6:30. If you would like to join us, please sign up in the lower foyer. Clean Out Days The roll off dumpster has arrived and we are in the process of cleaning out! If you are able to stop in during the week to lend a hand, it would be appreciated. If there are things in storage that are meaningful to you, please let Pastor Jeff know before they find their way into the dumpster. Women's Summer Reading Anna and our ladies will be reading the book “Sensible Shoes” by Sharon Brown. Sharon Garlough Brown tells the moving story of four strangers as they reluctantly arrive at a retreat center and find themselves drawn out of their separate stories of isolation and struggle and into a collective journey of spiritual practice, mutual support and personal revelation. If you would like join the ladies as they read through this encouraging book, please sign up at the women’s table in the upper foyer. We will order the books on May 29 and the dinner finale will be Friday Aug 10. TODAY IS THE LAST DAY TO SIGN UP! BODY NEWS Mandated Clearances for Child Care Workers It is time to revisit every children’s ministry worker’s need for update clearances. If you work or deal in ANY capacity with children at Dover Assembly and are over 18, you are required by law to have current State Police and ChildLine clearances and Mandated reporter training. Pastor Jeff will be approaching those who need such clearances. If your clearances are out of date (older than 5 years) or we do not have them in our files, you will need to apply for them ASAP. No one will be permitted to work with children until all clearances have been obtained. Copier Room Access Due to the counting team using the copier room during the morning church service, access to the copier and supplies will need to be made prior to the start of church. The room will be locked at approximately 10:45 am. New Entrance Doors Into The Lower Level In our desire to heighten the security for our children, we have installed new doors that lead into the lower part of our church where the children’s ministries take place. In a week or so, we will be adding a security lock which will require anyone seeking entrance, to buzz and wait to be let in. The doors will be locked from 9:30-10:15 and again from 10:30-noon. Sanctuary Chairs We have met the goal! We have raised enough to purchase all 200 chairs. They have been ordered and are scheduled to arrive in 12-16 weeks. Praise God! Once we know that the chairs are on their way we will need help in removing the existing pews. We are trying to connect with churches or ministries that are in need of them. Faith Pledges So far we have raised $7,142.50 towards our matching goal of $10,000 towards our debt of $50,000. Thank you for your faithfulness! Help us to meet that challenge. BIRTHDAYS & ANNIVERSARIES June 2 ~ Tyler Landis June 5 ~ Nora Ellicott June 5 ~ Darlene Fearson June 6 ~ Olga Kholod June 19 ~ Rose Kauffman June 25 ~ Ken Sheely June 27 ~ Nelly Kholod June 23 ~ Mark & Diane Crumrine PRAYER NEEDS Please take time to review and pray for those on this list. Drop them a card or call to set up a time to visit. They will be blessed! Shut-In ~ Helen S. Prayer Needs ~ Robin H. ~ Rose K. ~ Phil & Murina S. ~ Marian T.

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We ended last week seeing the power of the Holy Spirit being used through Peter & John...how God not only healed a beggar, but through that healing, Peter was given the opportunity to preach to the crowd.

We said that miracles are always done in order to bring glory to God. And the opportunity to tell others about that power.

Now we come to Acts 5 - the account of Ananias & Sapphira...

Acts of the Apostles 5:1-11

At first glance this might seem kind of harsh. It may appear that God is just waiting for the first person to mess up and then bring judgment on them.

But as we’ll see it is much more than that.

First let’s see what is happening that caused this event to occur...

Acts of the Apostles 4:32

The church was unified. Everyone was on board for the same mission.

For any work of God to succeed, the church has to be on the same page-unified in their pursuit of God’s will.

This occasion prompted believers to contribute to the work of God and it appears everyone contributed all they had.

Acts of the Apostles 4:36-37

Barnabus is going to be an important part of the ministry in the church. He is later mentioned at least 25 more times.

Barnabus encouraged Paul in his ministry.

Notice that every person has a unique call and gifting. Not everyone can be a Paul or Peter or John being on the forefront, preaching to hundred and thousands of people.

Barnabus was a behind the scenes believer. He was a spirit filled man that God used to further His kingdom.

We may not all be Billy Grahams, but we can all be encouragers.

So what happens when we see someone getting all the accolades for his gift? Do we get jealous? Do we secretly desire the same appreciation?

It’s very easy to fall into that trap especially in ministry.

Not all of us have the same gifts and abilities. And God doesn’t expect us to be someone we are not.

But Ananias & Sapphira did. They wanted the same notoriety that Barnabus received.

Acts of the Apostles 5:1-2

“Half of the world’s misery comes from trying to look, rather than trying to be, something that we are not.” ~ George MacDonald

They were pretending to be someone that they were not. Jesus called this HYPOCRISY.

The word literally means “to wear a mask, to play an actor.”

This does not mean that we fail to be perfect and fail to live up to what we think we can be, because we all don’t live up to perfection.

This means to deliberately deceiving someone, trying to make people think we are more spiritual than we really are.

Warren Wiersbe tells the story of when he was building his first new sanctuary.

He wanted to have a great façade out front to appear nice to the public.

The architect rebuked him and said “absolutely not- the church stands for truth and honesty and I will not design one that has a façade! A building should tell the truth and not pretend to be what it isn’t”

Ananias and Sapphira were putting on a façade--a nice front to those who would see them.

The name Ananias means “God is gracious”. But sometimes we forget that God is also holy.

In our desire to understand God’s grace we can’t overlook the fact that God is still holy and still hates sin.

Remember this was the very beginning of the church and if God wanted the church to start off right, he had to stop sin and pride and hypocrisy before it ever gets into the church.

Who was behind Ananias & Sapphira? The enemy.

Acts of the Apostles 5:3

The Bible tells us to not let the devil get a foothold. If this wasn’t stopped in it’s tracks, the enemy would have infiltrated the church.

Notice this fact: Historically, where persecution from the outside is the worst, the church on the inside is the strongest. Where there is little persecution, the church is weakest.

Why? Because the enemy cannot defeat the church from without, but he can cause damage from within.

Most churches wither and die from within. Church splits, churches deviating from the truth, churches not willing to change to meet the spiritual needs of society.

All a result of the enemy infiltrating. That is why God is so hard on them.

They lied! So when God was judging them he was also judging Satan (the father of lies).

He will not tolerate deception in His church!

What was the motivator for them? PRIDE!

God hates pride!

Acts of the Apostles 5:3-4

Notice what was happening here.

~ First, most commentators believe they were Christians. For them to even be allowed to attend, it’s likely they were checked out first. You couldn’t just show up for fear you would turn them in. So these folks had to be known.

~ To be able to lie to the Holy Spirit, would mean they had the Holy Spirit. But also Peter was now operating in the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

~ The he gave him a Word of Knowledge. How would he know about the money and everything unless God gave him a Word of Knowledge?

Acts of the Apostles 5:5-6

The Bible says “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”

It is okay to have a godly fear of the Lord.

FEAR means reverential trust.

If we sin, we should fear the consequences of that sin.

Acts of the Apostles 5:7-8

Peter was being long suffering allowing her the chance to repent and get right with God.

Also, she didn’t know what happened. You would think with that tragic of an outcome, she would have heard it from someone, but the enemy always keep us in the dark when it comes to consequences.

He will do everything to not let you know what the outcome of our choices will be.

When temptation comes, all he tells you is the fun you will have, not the terrible consequences you will suffer because of it.

Acts of the Apostles 5:8

She wanted the recognition as much as he did.

Spouses: Do not follow your spouse when you know it is wrong. Do not let them talk you into doing something that God says not to do.

You will be held equally guilty.

Acts of the Apostles 5:9

Again, the Holy Spirit is giving Peter a word of knowledge.

The first time it was about Ananias, he didn’t include the wife when he was talking to the husband.

Now the word of knowledge was about the wife.

Then right after that, the Holy Spirit gave him a prophecy.

Acts of the Apostles 5:9

The gifts of the Holy Spirit are designed to benefit the church.

In both edification, as well as correction and judgment.

Acts of the Apostles 5:10

The church went from great power and grace to great fear.

Acts 4:33

Acts of the Apostles 5:11

All 3 should be present in the church. We should see great power, we should experience great grace, and we should have great fear of sin.

Hebrews 12:28

While we can enjoy the goodness and grace of our loving father, we also need to have a holy fear as well.

If we don’t have a holy fear of God more than a desire to please ourselves or others, we will be tempted to allow the world’s influences, our own evil desires and the enemy to gain a foothold.

God wants a holy church. It’s our job to make sure it is!

Thank you for joining us!

If you haven't already, be sure to check out our website and follow us on social media @doverassembly! Have a great week!

http://doverassembly.com