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Acts 4:32-37
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All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their  possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.
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With great power theapostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God's grace was so powerfully at work in them all
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that there were no needy persons among them. For fromtime to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from thesales
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and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.
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Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means "son of encouragement"),
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sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at theapostles' feet.
The Perfect Church
[Introduction = Church shopping in Grand Rapids]Brothers and sisters,My goodness Grand Rapids is an interesting place…when we firstarrived we had to find for ourselves a church home…and youknow what we realized…There are Christian Reformed Churches everywhere…bigchurches, little churches, contemporary churches, traditionalchurches, multicultural churches…Churches right next to churches. It is possible to drive a golf ballfrom Seymour CRC to Alger Park CRC.You could go just to a different Christian Reformed Church eachday and each night for well over a year just to find the perfectchurch…and then you could move to the RCA, and the PCA, andthe Presbyterian church, and the baptists, and the non-denominationals. You could probably attend a different church for the better part of a decade and not repeat…All in your quest to find the perfect church. The one that is rightfor you. The one that is perfect in terms of values, and ministry,and programs, and preaching…
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So how do you find the perfect church…do you talk aboutvalues…or about the people…or about the programs…or about theleaders…there are many ways of assigning value to a church…This morning we look to the book of Acts to help us in our quest…and we see in Acts chapter 4 that
I. One common thing we do is to equate the perfect churchwith perfect giving.
In the Scripture we read together this morning we have this pictureof the Jerusalem church and we hear about their patterns of giving…The Bible says… No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, butthey shared everything they had… And God's grace was so powerfully at work in them all
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that there were no needy personsamong them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales
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and put it atthe apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.
 And it tells us about one such person:
 
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Joseph, a Levite fromCyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means "son of encouragement"),
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sold a field he owned and brought the moneyand put it at the apostles' feet.This is a wonderful picture of a church that is stewarding well. Thestrength of their community is shown through the budget numbers.If someone had a need in the church they were able to take care of it. If they needed to buy food they were able to do it. If theyneeded to buy lodging they were able to handle it. If they neededmaterials someone would take care of it.
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The people in the church gave freely and willingly. Not only didthey give from the fruit of their labours they also went out and soldtheir property in order to fund the ministry of the church.The Bible tells us that
God's grace was so powerfully at work inthem all 
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that there were no needy persons among them.
And then we compare ourselves to the Jerusalem church. I lovethis text in Acts and I love to talk about stewardship and it’s a textthat I would love to preach on just because stewardship is a goodtopic.The reality is, however, that I was
asked 
to preach on this particular story in Acts and to let you know the state of the budget.To tell you that we are behind in our giving for the year and that if we want to meet our obligations as a congregation we’re going tohave to give a little bit more.And I don’t think I need to say anymore about this to you. I knowyou to be a faithful congregation especially with regard to your giving. I know that I can put this need before you and that it’sgoing to be taken care of…So consider this the gentle reminder that we need to remember our giving in our prayers and in our  practice…There are needs we need to meet……but there is something that we need to pay attention to here…We are taught, and we think to ourselves that if a church is doingall the things it’s supposed to do then the amount of giving is goingto exceed the budget. That all the programs are going to be paidfor. That the deacons are going to be able to help out everyone whocomes through the door. That there are no needy people amongthem…
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