Faith on the God: Ep 4: Church Clothes & Covered Lies: Unmasking Spiritual Compromise

0:00 Hello and welcome back to Diary of a Black Woman podcast as we continue our Faith on the Go series. Today we are covering a new topic. It's titled Church Clothes and Covered Lies. When familiarly fools you by playing holy before people and hiding from God is dangerous. Let's open with our decree, our declaration of the prayer of Jabez. And let's just pray this with us. Pray this with me. For God's hand is upon us. Our territory is expanding and we are kept from harm.

0:41 Our prayers are heard and they will be answered. Here we rise from pain, walk in truth, and return to deep intimacy with God. Healed, empowered, and walking boldly in divine purpose. Okay, let's get ready for this one. I'm your host, Connie Morrison, and we're about to keep it real, keep it raw, and rooted in the Word of God. Have you ever found yourself showing up at church polished on the outside, but hiding some kind of secret on the inside? If you ever lifted your hands in worship, but held back your heart in private?

1:23 Or if you've gotten just a little too comfortable around the sacred, this episode is for you. Today, we are continuing our bold new series, The Curse of Familiarity. And we're going straight to the story of Ananias and Sapphira. I mean, we heard about them, the husband and wife team. And so it happened in the book of Acts, the story of Ananias and Sapphira. There were two believers who got too casual with the presence of God.

2:04 They thought faking holiness wouldn't cost them anything. But what happened when church clothes cover up spiritual compromise? What happens when lying to the Holy Ghost become routine? We're about to talk about it. So buckle up, be open, and lean in. Because in 2025, we're not playing church anymore. We are becoming the church. So we got to tear off all those false facades, all that fakeness that we've been playing. Remember, we just finished a series, the games we play with God. So we've already done figuring all that stuff out. We've already repented.

2:48 We're on to something new. So this is faith on the go. Real talk, real growth, wherever you are and wherever you go. So let's head over to the main story. The main message is found in Acts chapter 5, verses 1 through 11. It says, Ananias and Sapphira sold a piece of property, brought part of the money to the apostles, and pretended it was the full amount. Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, calls it out. So you have lied.

3:28 You have not just lied to human beings, but to God. And immediately, Ananias drops dead. Three hours later, Sapphira walks in, repeats the lie, and meets the same fate. Now, let's be clear. They didn't lie because they didn't give all the money. They didn't die because they didn't give all the money. They died because they lied to the Holy Spirit and thought nobody would know. That's the curse of familiarity. They were so used to being in the community of believers around the presence of God that they thought they can fake it just one more time.

4:10 They wanted to honor the holiness without the honesty of obedience. So let's back this up a little bit. They made a promise that they will sell some property and they will give it all to the church. That sounds so interesting when you're in a group of people and they go, wow, they probably raised their hand. You know how we do. They raised their hand and said, hey, I will give my money to the church. I'm going to sell my property and I'm going to give it to the church. They go, ooh, that's a good deal. Thank you. And then husband and wife got together and said, you know what? We sold that for more than we thought.

4:52 We can't give that all to the church. So they made a private plot. And even if they did change their mind, they could have just told Peter and it would not have been a big deal. Right. But no, they made a big scene about it. You know how people do? They made a big scene. We're going to give all our money to the church. And lo and behold, when it came to give the money to the church, they figure out, wait, we can't give all our money to the church. But they changed their mind. but they had committed it before the Holy God, the Holy Spirit. And when they came before Peter, Peter said this. He said, you have not lied just to human beings but to God.

5:37 And so they died right there, right in the church. Isn't that something? And that's what we call the curse of familiarity. When you get so close to the Holy Spirit that you think you can just get away with anything. They were so used to being with the community of believers just flowing and nothing happening, right? Nothing was happening. Nothing was happening. Holy Ghost was still Holy. The Holy Spirit was still the Holy Spirit. But nothing was happening at this level. But how many know that that changed that day? And the presence of God that they thought they could keep faking it.

6:20 They wanted the honor of holiness without the honesty of obedience. What does that look like today in 2025? So let's make it real plain. We're posting devotionals, but we live in offense. Singing in worship, but cursing in private. Saying God told me when he didn't say a word. Giving to impress, but not out of obedience. Quoting scripture to others, but not living it yourself. This is what happens when we get too familiar with the things of God, but lose our fear of the Lord.

7:02 Mananias and Sapphira were part of the church, but they forgot they were standing before a holy God. And God made it clear. You don't get to lie to my spirit and think it won't cost you something. You don't get to lie to my spirit and don't think it won't cost you something. So how do we avoid this? Number one, how do we avoid death? Remember, you've got to understand, they lied to the group, but they thought they were getting away with it. There came a time when they came in front of probably that same group, and they died with that same lie in their heart.

7:43 So four steps to walk in this truth. It says, confess, don't cover. In Proverbs 28, 13 reads, whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy. God is merciful, but he honors honesty, not image management. Wow. God is merciful. He honors honesty, not image management. So you always want to be honest with God. They didn't have to give anything away. Remember, they chose to give the money to the church after they sold their property.

8:27 They decided in secret to only give half or whatever they decided to do, but they lied to the Holy Spirit. So confess, not cover. Confess, not cover. Confess, don't cover. Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper. But the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy. That's Proverbs 28, 13. God is merciful, but he honors honesty, not image management. Number two, repent thoroughly. Don't just feel bad. Turn. Repent is a turning away.

9:09 Repentance means changing direction, not just your emotions. It's not an emotional change. It's a directional change, turning from that bad back towards God. And number three, prioritize presence over performance. Matthew 6 tells us that your father who sees in secret will reward you. Go back to your secret place, get honest, and let him clean you up for real. So stop faking and playing church. Stop playing with the Holy Spirit. Remember we said God is a consuming fire.

9:50 And at that moment, remember he's the one that gives us breath to breathe. And he's the one who decides when your last breath will be taken. He says, Your father who sees in secret will reward you. So prioritize presence over performance. Get back to your secret place, get honest, and let him clean you up for real. Number four, invite the Holy Spirit to search you. Psalms 139 verses 23 to 24 tells us to search me, God. know my heart. See if there's any offensive way in me. So ask him, the Lord, say, Lord, show me where I am faking it.

10:31 Reveal where I've gotten too comfortable, and he will. Wow. So you be real with God, and he will definitely be real with you. Let's go over those four steps again. How to walk in truth. You want to confess, don't cover. You want to not conceal your sins. You want to go to God who is merciful, who will honor your honesty and not your image management. You want to repent, thoroughly repent, turn directions and not all that emotional stuff. You know, we cry, I didn't mean it, I didn't mean it. Did you repent? Because we, I don't feel the emotion. I feel the emotion, but not the repentance, right?

11:14 And number three, prioritize presence over performance. Get real. Let them clean you up for real. And finally, the fourth point is allow the Holy Spirit to clean your heart. Find out if there's anything offensive in you. Find out if you are faking it. Just find out if you are faking it. We all have some friends who can't leave the house without their makeup, but they always got to have the, I have a sister like this, always got to have the most fanciest item, purse, blah, blah, blah. But then when you go to their house, it's the messiest house. They got to have steak and shrimp.

11:56 But the house is a hot mess. Can we clean the house up first? Can we stop faking it out in public that we eat out like this all the time and we're gourmet? But yeah, we can't keep the simple things clean like this faking thing. God wants us to come real to him, be real with him, and be real to him and not fake it. Right? So in 2025, we're not playing with the presence of God because he ain't playing with us. We don't want to be the next Ananias and Sapphira, polished on the outside, but perishing on the inside. God isn't looking for perfection. He's looking for truth. Truth in our worship.

12:37 Truth in our giving. truth in our walk. Don't let familiarity with the church cost you intimacy with God. Let's pray. Lord, I repent for every time I perform instead of obeying. For the time I made my life look right instead of living right. Holy Spirit, cleans up my motives. I root the desire to appear holy while hiding compromise. Make me real again. In Jesus' name, amen. This has been a Faith on the Go series with your host, Connie Morris.

13:17 I hope you're enjoying this familiarity series in this season. Let's stop dressing up what needs to be delivered. Let's start faking holiness and start walking in it. Let's remember that familiarity is not the same as faithfulness. Let's remember familiarity is not the same as faithfulness. Make sure you subscribe, leave a review, share this episode with somebody who needs to hear it. You can connect with me in the Diary of Black Women podcast. I am now on Instagram. I want X and visit Dairy Black Women LLC for more devotional teachings and encouragement.

14:02 Until next time, stay honest, stay humble, keep walking with faith. Glory to God. I want to, you know, send you off and activate you under the promises of Jeremiah 29 11. God knows the plans he has for you, plans to prosper you, not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. And when you seek him with all your heart, you will find him. And he will bring you back from captivity and restore everything that was lost. Hold on. Your healing, your clarity, your breakthrough are closer than you think. This is more than a podcast.

14:43 This is a return to God's plan for your life. Let's keep walking it all together. and let's stay connected and I'll see you on the next episode. Bye-bye.