What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............

Write this down by limiting God's presence and power to the temple, the Sanhedrin were blaspheming. By making the temple greater than God. By limiting God's presence and power to the temple, the Sanhedrin were blaspheming. By making the temple greater than God. The words immediately following the quote that Stephen pulls from Isaiah are revelatory in our discussion.

After pointing out that he has no need for a house because no house can contain him, the Lord speaks through the prophet and says, this is the Lord's declaration. I will look favorably on this kind of person, one who is humble, submissive or broken in spirit, and trembles at my word. David wrote the same thing in Psalm 50/ 117 the sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken spirit. You will not despise a broken and humbled heart. God and Jesus began the Sermon on the Mount with the Beatitude blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.

All these scriptures make the same point. God has never been foremost interested in a temple and rituals and religion. He has always been blessed most by the same thing a heart that sees itself and the Lord clearly a heart that knows it resides in a broken sinned, recognizes that God is holy and glorious, perceives the incalculable gap between the two, and seeks grace and mercy from the Lord, fully aware that it deserves neither. God's presence has always resided among his people, and the sacrifice he has always found most pleasing is a humble heart belonging to those who know they are poor in spirit. Therefore, it should not be surprising that God who cannot be contained by any building, has always desired to be among his people and has therefore made a temple for Himself in his people.

This mystery is beautifully articulated by the Apostle Paul's letter to the Ephesians, where he writes you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ Himself as the cornerstone. In Him, the whole building being put together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In Him, you are also being built together for God's dwelling in the Spirit. Steven's speech will now dramatically change course. Instead of recounting lessons from Israel's history, he turns his focus squarely to the men before him.

It could be that Steven has made his point and was planning at this moment all along to reach his conclusion, or it could be that he could have gone on for some time, recounting more points from Israel's sordid history. But perhaps as Stephen looks out across the sea of faces, he sees nothing but contempt, and recognizing their impenetrable hardheartedness, he changes gears. Up to this point, Stephen has included himself in the address, using phrases like our Father, our ancestors, and our race. But in this moment, a distinction is made between those who receive Jesus as the Messiah and those who do not. And that's why Stephen will now switch to addressing them as you.

In doing this, Stephen represents Jesus and the Church, and things will never be the same again. The view that Christianity is a sect of Judaism or a harmless trend that will pass and fade away, can no longer be held. A line in the sand is being drawn here, and as a result, as we shall soon see, intense persecution of the Church is about to break out. The fermenting jealousy and hatred of the Jewish religious leaders toward Jesus and his followers is about to explode from a small flame into a raging fire. Write this down.

Verse 51 marks the dividing line between Christianity and all other belief systems. Here's the line Jesus is God and the only way to be saved from one's sins. Jesus is God and the only way to be saved from one's sins. That's the dividing line between true Christianity and everything else. Stephen looks at the Sanhedrin and says in verse 51, you stiff-necked people.

What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............

He concluded that he should build a glorious temple to house the Ark of the Covenant. David shared his desire with the prophet Nathan, who impulsively told David that it was a great idea, and that he should do everything that was in his heart. However, that night, God spoke to Nathan, and Nathan had to sheepishly go back the next day and tell David I spoke out of turn. I was impulsive, and I should have sought the Lord first. God says that he doesn't want you to build him a house because your hands are bloodied from war.

But God will build you a house, David, and establish your throne and your family line forever. God was speaking of the fact that Jesus the Messiah would come from the family line of David. And one day in the future, Jesus will indeed reign as king over the earth from the throne of David in Jerusalem at the time of the millennium. This is what the angel was speaking of when he first appeared to Mary and told her, you will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.

And the Lord God will give him the throne of his Father David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end. Now, obviously, this incredible gesture by the Lord just blew David away. Nathan then went on to tell David that it would be his son Solomon who would build a house for the Lord. The first temple in Jerusalem.

Steven continues in verse 48 but the Most High underline this. The Most High does not dwell in Sanctuaries, made with hands, as the prophet says. And now Stephen quotes from Isaiah 66, Heaven is my throne and the earth my footstool. What sort of house will you build for me? Says the Lord, or what will be my resting place?

Did not my hand make all these things? Stephen points out that God permitted Solomon to build the temple as an answer to David's desire to honor the Lord. God didn't ask for a temple, and the idea that he could somehow be honored by a building is ridiculous, as he's the one who created everything that would be used in its construction. The God who makes universes and heavens and everything on the earth can make whatever he wants if there's anything that he wants. As far as a building or a house goes.

Stephen again masterfully quotes the scripture and says, Isaiah understood this. David understood this as well. He collected a special offering from the people of Israel to raise money and supplies for the temple that his Son would build. When the people responded with radical generosity, David's prayer included these statements but who am I and who are my people that we should be able to give as generously as this? For everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your own hand.

Lord our God, all this wealth that we've provided for building you a house for your holy Name comes from your hand. Everything belongs to you. And when Solomon dedicated the Finnish temple, his prayer included this but will God indeed live on earth? Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain you, much less this temple I have built. Steven's point is clear.

The Jews had elevated the importance of the temple to the level of idolatry, foolishly believing that God's work and presence were entirely contained within it and limited by it. They were accusing Stephen of blaspheming the temple. Stephen was accusing them of blaspheming God by limiting his power, presence, and work among his people to the confines of the temple, making the temple greater than God himself. The temple was a symbol of God's presence, not a prison for it. If God has a home on earth, it is among his people, for wherever they are, there he is too.

What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............

Stephen (Part 3)...Date:10/2/22

Passage: Acts 7:44-8:1...Speaker: Jeff Thompson

As we witness the final part of Stephen's address before the Sanhedrin, we learn what it looks like to follow Jesus in life and death.

In Acts chapter seven. We're going to pick things up in verse 44. We're going to get there in just a minute. But to set the scene. Stephen is on trial before the Sanhedrin, the Council of Jewish religious leaders in Jerusalem.

He is charged with blaspheming God, the law, Moses, and the temple. The latter charge carries the death penalty. In his defense, Stephen has been walking the Sanhedrin through certain aspects of Israel's history, drawing out undeniable and critical truths, such as God has never needed a holy temple, city, or land to meet with his people. Those who follow God cannot dictate how he fulfills his promises. Israel was founded on faith, Israel's rejection of God's deliverer.

Moses delayed her liberation from Egypt by 40 years. Israel's refusal to believe God's promises delayed her entry into the Promised Land by 40 years. Israel's ancestors loved Egypt more than the Promised Land. They loved pagan idols more than the living God. And most damnable of all, Israel's history reveals a pattern of rejecting the rulers and deliverers that God sends.

In response to the accusation that he had blasphemed the temple, Stephen now says a few words about the dwelling places of God. As I said, we'll pick things up. Acts chapter seven, verses 44. Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern he had seen. Our ancestors in turn received it, and Joshua brought it in when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before them until the days of David.

This is your first villain, and then we'll unpack it. Stephen points out that when God commissioned a dwelling for his presence, he specified the Tabernacle. He specified the Tabernacle. God didn't ask for a temple because a portable dwelling for his presence fulfilled his desire to dwell among his people wherever he led them. A tabernacle allowed God's people to move with his presence and his presence to move with his people.

And indeed, that was the case throughout Israel's conquest of the Promised Land all the way up to the days of David. God commanded Israel to build Him a tabernacle, not a temple, because a tabernacle better reflected God's desired relationship with his people. Now, if you're a Bible nerd, you might want to underline the three words he had seen, because it's a little bit of a nugget if you're into that kind of thing. It tells us that not only did God give Moses the specifications for building the Tabernacle, but he also showed Moses what the Tabernacle would look like. And I know this isn't what happened, but in my head, I just imagined God speaking to Moses through the angels on top of Mount Sinai, and he's giving Moses the law and the specifications for the tabernacle.

And Moses is just looking at them and he's a bit confused. And then he just asks God, can you, like, draw me a picture. And God's like, fine, I'll just show you. And bam, he just shows him what it looks like. Steven now revisits how Israel got the temple.

Did God tell him to build it? Later, Stephen reminds the Sanhedrin verse 46 he that's David, he found favor in God's sight and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. It was Solomon, rather, who built him a house. David had wonderful intentions. After God had given him victory over his enemies, David found himself sitting in his splendorous palace, and he became vexed by the fact that the Ark of the Covenant, where God's presence dwelled, was currently living in a tent.

What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............

God loves you enough to let the bottom fall out of your life. If that's what it will take to get you to respond to Him, every option is on the table. If you're being stubborn in responding to God, my exhortation is real simple change, change. Repent. Respond to God.

Say yes to him. The thing that hit me so heavily as I was studying for this is that we don't have 40 years to waste. You don't have 40 years to waste wandering in the wilderness, being in bondage to sin, being controlled by your sin, enslaved to whatever your flesh desires. You don't have 40 years to waste. You don't have four years to waste.

Life is short. You might not even have four days to waste. Do not think that if God is speaking to you and you are saying no, you will hear his voice forever so that you can respond later at a time that's more convenient for you. He doesn't promise you that. Scripture says today is the day of salvation.

If you hear the word of the Lord today, do not harden your heart to respond today because you don't know that you'll hear it tomorrow. And if you keep saying no, you will wake up one day, you won't hear the voice of God and you won't be able to find the truth anymore. You won't be able to tell the difference between the light and the dark if you've never given your life to Jesus and he is calling you to do that today and you know it. Don't delay. There's no time to waste.

There's no time to waste. Come and talk to me or BJ after the service. We're not going to embarrass you. We're just going to have a conversation on the side and talk through how you can begin this relationship with God. If you need to repent, do that.

Do that. If you need to take a step of faith and you've been putting it off because it's hard, it's difficult, it requires sacrifice, do it. Obey the voice of God while you can hear it.

Share with a friend





info@gospelcity.ca

What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............



I'll take my sin. That's what Jesus said. And Stephen just keeps hitting the nail on the head over and over. And now he brings up the infamous golden calf incident from Exodus 32. In verse 40, they Israel told Aaron, make us gods who will go before us.

As for this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we don't know what's happened to him. They even made a calf in those days, offered sacrifice to the idol, and were celebrating what their hands had made. Stephen reminds the Sanhedrin. Oh. Our sacred ancestors.

Let's just revisit history a little bit. Literally. While Moses is being given the Law. Literally, while he's up on the top of Mount Sinai. And the whole mountain is enveloped in thick smoke with the presence of God.

While they can see that Israel is at the bottom of the mountain saying. I don't know if Moses is coming back down. Aaron, you're in charge. Make us a golden calf idol so we can have an orgy and worship that. Let's do that.

Steven said, do you understand this? Moses is on the mountain hearing from God at that moment, and they're already rebelling and turning away so they can see God. There is the smoke of His presence, and they're already rejecting Him in favor of idols because they turned their hearts back to Egypt already. The arrival of the Law certainly didn't make Israel righteous. And now Stephen describes what happened to Israel between the time they conquered the promised land and the time when they were taken away centuries later in the Babylonian exile, verse 42, god turned away and gave them up.

You see, when a person receives revelation from God, he lets them understand that he's real. He reveals to their innermost spirit something of himself. When a person receives that, has that, can see that, but still rejects it because they would rather keep their sin, scripture says God will ultimately let them have their way. He won't overpower them. He'll actually stop revealing the truth to them and say, okay, I won't reveal myself to you anymore.

I won't let you see the truth anymore. I'll actually give your mind over to the sin that you love. So that the sin that you're committing that you know is wrong. I'll actually give you a mind that will start to believe it's right. That's a judgment of God on people who persistently reject Him.

It's terrifying. It's terrifying, and it's why it's so urgent that we repent and turn to God when we recognize our sin, when he's speaking to us, we have to respond then because the Bible doesn't say that will go on forever. God does this today, and he did it to Israel thousands of years ago. God said, you've seen me, you've seen signs and wonders, and you still want to reject me. Okay, I'll give you a mind that will do that.

Paul describes this process in Romans chapter one. If you have your Bible and want to turn there, I'm just going to read through it. We don't have time to expose it at all. But in Romans one, beginning in verses 21, I'll read it to you. This is what God says happens to people even today.

And here's what's mind blowing just as I read this. Think about the world around us today and what you're seeing in culture, and then understand that the Apostle Paul was writing this almost 20 years ago about what was happening in culture then, and it was true a couple of thousand years before that, with Israel as well. Let me read it to you. Paul says that though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became worthless and their senseless hearts were darkened.

What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............

He commanded you to listen to him. He told you he was coming. He told you he would speak in God's name. But like your forefathers, you refuse to listen. Verse 38 he, Moses, is the one who was in the assembly underlying assembly in the wilderness with the angel, underlying the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai and with our ancestors.

He received living underlying living oracles. To give us all of that is a reference to the time that Moses was given the Law, and the Ten Commandments by God to give to the people of Israel. Stephen is pleading not guilty to the charge of blaspheming the Law. He affirms that he believes the Law was authored by God and given to Moses by angels, which is exactly what the Sanhedrin believed. Stephen is very intentionally referring to the Law as a living oracle to make the point that the word of God is living, it is alive and still being actively fulfilled.

The Sanhedrin were treating the Scriptures as though they were closed dead documents when they would have their eyes open and been looking for the fulfillment of God's promises, specifically the coveting of the Messiah. The word assembly in Greek is the word ekklesia, which you may know is used to describe the collective church body throughout the New Testament. There's a link being made here. You see, at Mount Sinai, the Law came down from God, and he made a people for Himself who were to be marked by their obedience to His Word. In Jesus, God came down and gave us Himself to make a new people for Himself who are marked by his spirit, his.

Presence dwells within them, leading them to obey His Word. Through Jesus, God has once again gathered a people for Himself, and this time, because they have his spirit, they will not collectively turn away from Him. When you see the phrase the angel in the Old Testament, that's always a reference to the one also sometimes called the angel of the Lord. In other verses, who is it? It's the pre-incarnate Jesus appearing to somebody.

So not only is the church, the new people that God has gathered for Himself and marked with his spirit, but the same angel who spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai and was there at the burning bush has come to the earth and spoken to us as Jesus of Nazareth. Verse 39. Our ancestors were underlying unwilling to obey Him. They were unwilling to obey Moses. Instead, they pushed him aside underline that, and then this is huge.

And in their hearts, they turned back to Egypt. Despite all the miracles, all the signs and wonders, and despite giving the people the law from God, Israel still refused to obey Moses. They turned their hearts back to Egypt. And in the Bible, Egypt is a picture of the world, the world system that has nothing to do with God. It's the antithesis of the kingdom of God.

Steven is saying at the end of the day, they love their sin more than God. They love their sin more than they love the deliverer God sent them. And if you want to talk about the Holy Land, just remember this, write this down, Israel's ancestors loved Egypt more than they loved the Promised Land. They had to be dragged into the Promised Land, kicking and screaming in their hearts. They just wanted to go back.

They loved their sin. This is what Jesus told Nicodemus in John chapter three, when he said, this is the judgment. The light has come into the world. And people love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light and avoids it so that his deeds may not be exposed.

It's not about evidence. It's not about signs and wonders. It's not because of anything lacking on God's part that people reject God. It's because at the end of the day, underneath it all, they love their sin more than they love God, and they don't want to give it up. You can have your sin or you can have God.

What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............

What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Isn't this what we told you in Egypt? Leave us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians. It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness. You know the story.

God moves miraculously, and Moses leads Israel through the reed seed to safety, which miraculously parts, and then closes in on the pursuing Egyptian army. And yet a short time later, the people are complaining and grumbling again. Stephen intentionally references that period of 40 years again, the length of time Israel wandered in the wilderness instead of going directly to the Promised Land. Now, why does Stephen do that? Because of the reason Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years.

You see, when Israel reached the border of the Promised Land, coming out of Egypt from slavery, they came to the Jordan River, and Moses sent twelve spies across the Jordan River into the Promised Land to spy out the land, the people living in it, the food available, the fortifications. Those spies were gone for 40 days. And when they came back, ten of the spies said, it's an amazing land flowing with milk and honey, but there are giants in the land and they are going to eat us up. Only Caleb and Joshua said it is irrelevant if everyone in the land is a giant. God is with us.

That's all that matters. The people of Israel listened to the negative report of the ten spies and refused to cross the Jordan. They refused to trust God to keep his coveting and promises. They rejected God, they rejected Moses, and they rejected Joshua, who God had ordained to be their next deliverer. They rejected Joshua before he could even take the mantle of their next deliverer.

Consequently, God sentenced them to wonder in the wilderness for 40 years before they would get to try going into the Promised Land again. One year for every day the spies were in the Promised Land, and enough time for all the adults who were part of that faithless generation to die out. Steven's point was that just as Israel would, he been out of Egypt 40 years earlier, Israel could have been in the Promised Land 40 years earlier. The only reason she wasn't was because she refused to trust God and believe the deliverers that God sent her. Write this down Israel's refusal to believe God's promises delayed her entry into the Promised Land by 40 years.

It delayed her entry into the Promised Land by 40 years. In the same way. By rejecting Jesus, the Sanhedrin was condemning Israel to remain in bondage and aimless wandering. Verse 37. This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers.

Stephen is referencing Exodus 18, where God gave Moses a prophetic promise about Jesus the Messiah to share with Israel. Let me read a couple of verses to you from Exodus 18. This is what Moses told the people. He said, The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him.

God says I, God will raise up for them a prophet like you, Moses, from among their brothers. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything. I command them. I will hold accountable whoever does not listen to my words that he speaks in my name. When Jesus fed the 50, John tells us the crowd said, this truly is the prophet who is to come into the world.

They knew. They connected the dots. The regular people were recognizing this one who's feeding us miraculously. He's the prophet Moses was speaking about. Stephen is telling the Sanhedrin, god promised to raise up a prophet like Moses from among the people of Israel.

What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............

As he was approaching to look at it, the voice of the Lord came. I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. This was God announcing that whatever he was about to speak to Moses was part of his grand covenant plan that traced its roots through Jacob, back to Isaac and all the way back to Abraham. Moses began to tremble and did not dare to look. The Lord said to him, take off the sandals from your feet now underline this, because the place where you are standing is holy ground.

The ground in Midian, outside the borders of the Promised Land, was made wholly by the presence of the Holy One, God himself. Any place inhabited by the presence of God becomes holy. And Stephen understood that God's presence was no longer restricted to only the temple or only within certain geographical borders. God's presence now resided in every man, woman, and child who placed their faith in Jesus. Because of God's Spirit, his presence now resided in people.

He had made them holy. As the 18th-century poet and hymn writer William Cowper put it, "Jesus, wherever thy people meet, there they behold thy mercy seat. Wherever they seek thee, thou art found, and every place is hallowed ground." God continued speaking to Moses and said in verse 34, "I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning..." and then underline this, "...and have come down to set them free. And now come, I will send you to Egypt." God heard the cries of his people, sent them a deliverer, and through that deliverer came down to set his people free. This was, of course, what God had done to an ultimate degree. Through Jesus, he has seen his people in bondage to sin and death. He has heard their cries, and so he has sent a deliverer, Jesus Messiah, to set his people free.

And just in case the men of the Sanhedrin weren't connecting the dots, Stephen does it for them. In verse 35, "This Moses whom they rejected when they said, 'Who appointed you a ruler and a judge?' This one..." Underline this, ..." God sent as a ruler and a deliverer through..." And then underline this, "...the angel who appeared to him in the bush."

Stephen's point is that this is the pattern of Israel's history. They reject the deliverers that God sends to them. Make a note of this on your outlines. Israel's history reveals a pattern of rejecting the rulers and deliverers God sends to this day. There are rabbis who argue Jesus of Nazareth could not have been the Messiah, because if he were, Israel would have recognized Him almost 2000 years ago.

Stephen addressed the subjection by pointing out to the Sanhedrin that Israel had rejected both Joseph and Moses, who were only a small part of Israel's well-established pattern of rejecting God's chosen messengers. If you want to dig into this more on your own, we just don't have time today. I recommend looking into Jesus' parable of the vineyard owner in Matthew 21- 33 to 46. I put that reference on your outlines. Pick it up in verse 36.

This man Moses led them out and performed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, at the Red Sea, in the wilderness for 40 years. Underlying 40 years, Israel rejected Moses the first time, and it cost them 40 more years of slavery in Egypt. They followed Him the second time only after he worked multiple signs and wonders, which were the famous plagues of Egypt. Do you see the parallels with Jesus here? Like Joseph, Israel accepted Moses only the second time he appeared to them.

So it will be with Jesus at the second coming after the signs and wonders of the Tribulation, Israel will accept Jesus as her deliverer. Israel's stubbornness comes to the fore again. Soon after they start following Moses. When it looked like they were pinned against the reed sea, exodus tells us they said to him, and this is on your outlines. Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you've taken us away to die in the wilderness?

What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............

Verse 23 when he was 40 years would, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. Again, God had determined that when Moses was 40 years old, it was time for the next step. Moses knew that he was a Hebrew. It wasn't a secret. And he knew somehow that God had called him to deliver his people.

Believing and sensing that the time had come for Moses to reveal himself to them and take charge and lead them to freedom, he went to go and see them. It says when he saw one of them being mistreated, he came to his rescue and avenged the oppressed man by striking down the Egyptian. Moses comes across an Egyptian man physically abusing a Hebrew man, and he acts. And in that conflict, Moses ends up killing the Egyptian man. Verses 25 he assumed his people would understand that God would give them deliverance through him, but underline this they did not understand.

When Moses came upon this Egyptian man abusing a Hebrew, he must have thought, wow, God is orchestrating this. I'm going to save this man, and this will be my introduction to my people. Their first interaction with me will be as a deliverer. What an entrance. But as Stephen points out, they did not understand.

They did not recognize him or receive him as their deliverer. The next day he showed up while they were fighting and tried to reconcile them peacefully, saying, Men, you are brothers. Why are you mistreating each other? Moses comes back the next day, finds the Hebrew men fighting among themselves, and tries to play the role of peacemaker. Note their response in verse 27.

But the one who was mistreating his neighbor pushed Moses aside, saying, who appointed you a ruler and a judge over us? Do you want to kill me the same way you killed the Egyptian yesterday? The Hebrews responded as the wicked men in Jesus' parable of the ten miners in Luke 19 did, saying, we don't want this man to rule over us. They responded as the chief priests who were sitting before Stephen had responded to Pilate just months earlier at the trial of Jesus, shouting, we have no king but Caesar. The Israelites asked Moses who died and made you Pharaoh?

If we don't follow you, are you just going to kill me like you killed that Egyptian yesterday? Yeah. We all know verse 29. When he heard this, Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons. After 40 years had passed - underline 40 years - Moses now knew that not only were his people rejecting him, but they were going to snitch on him.

He would have been charged with murder, a capital offense in Egypt at the time. Not only that, Pharaoh would have surmised that he was initiating a Hebrew insurrectionist movement, a rebellion. So, Moses felt he had no choice but to flee. Stephen is making the point that Israel's rejection of God's chosen messenger, his chosen deliverer Moses - get this - because they rejected Moses, it delayed Israel's deliverance from Egypt by 40 years. 40 years.

And the question Stephen is asking the Sanhedrin under all of this is, are you going to make the same mistake? Are you going to remain in spiritual bondage and slavery because you refuse to welcome and receive and recognize God's chosen deliverer for you? Jesus of Nazareth, write this down Israel's rejection of God's deliverer Moses delayed her liberation by 40 years. It delayed her liberation by 40 years.

As a side note, just for you Bible nerds, it was only Israel's rejection of her deliverer, Moses, that caused him to leave the place where Israel was and take a Gentile bride. The typology of the church is obvious if you want to dig into that. Verse 30.
After 40 years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai in the flame of a burning bush. When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight.

What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............

I like it here. Stephen doesn't mention this, but it's another example of Israel's collective pattern of stubbornness. Things had to get so bad in Egypt before they would even consider leaving. And even when they did, it didn't take very long before they were saying, maybe we should go back. God made promises in his word that Israel would become a political nation and dwell in the Promised Land again after they were scattered.

But after that happened, between 70 Ad and 120 Ad in the Diaspora, the land of Israel remained empty for most of 1900 years. Why? Largely because the Jewish people prospered in other places and only moved on to other places. When persecution got bad enough where they were, they weren't interested in returning to the Promised Land and faith. What did it take to get the Jewish people to return to the Land of Israel?

Do you know what it took? The Holocaust. Literally. Look up the history. It took the Holocaust to get them to come back into the land so that God's promises could be fulfilled.

Now, knowing that what do you think it will take to get Israel to accept Jesus as her Messiah? The answer, the tribulation. Scripture says two out of three of all Jews on earth dying in the Tribulation is what it will take to get Israel to the point where they're ready to welcome Jesus at the Second Coming. That's what it will take to break them. Verse 19.

The Pharaoh dealt deceitfully with our race and oppressed our ancestors by making them abandon their infants outside so that they wouldn't survive to try and control this explosive population growth among the Hebrews in Egypt, the Pharaoh enslaved them and demanded that all midwives who delivered babies immediately take them and leave them outside exposed to animals and the elements until they died. Verse 20.
At this time Moses was born, at this time, the appointed time, and he was beautiful in God's sight. He was cared for in his father's home for three months. God had a plan and was preparing his chosen deliverer for his people, Moses.

And again, if you know the story, the Hebrew midwives didn't obey Pharaoh. They flat out disobeyed him. They refused to kill the baby boys. Stephen summarizes Moses upbringing and intentionally describes him as beautiful in God's sight to show the Sanhedrin that he, Stephen, reveres Moses, contrary to the charge that he has spoken blasphemies against him. When Pharaoh learned that the midwives were disobeying him, he gave a new command to his soldiers and people to simply go and grab and seize every Hebrew baby, infant, and small child who was male, and throw them in the Nile River to be drowned.

But God had a plan to preserve Moses life. It says when he was put outside, the pharaoh's daughter adopted and raised him as her own son. Knowing that soldiers would soon visit their house, Moses parents, in desperation, not knowing what else to do, put him in a basket floated him down the river, and said, God do a miracle. And God did. Through a miraculous series of events, Moses ends up being found by the daughter of Pharaoh, who adopts him as a baby and raises him as her own in the palace of Pharaoh.

So, Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in his speech and actions. Moses was raised by the best teachers, the greatest scholars in the most advanced civilization in the world at the time Egypt. He was a natural leader, gifted by God, and highly educated. He was schooled, sparing no expense in all the customs of the land. Stephen once again shows his respect for Moses by describing him as powerful in speech and actions, a description the Sanhedrin knew full well also applied to Jesus of Nazareth, who was described by the travelers on the road to Emmaus as a prophet, powerful in action and speech before God and all the people.

What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............

They will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly for him as one weeps for a firstborn. And then Zechariah also says, on that day, a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the residents of Jerusalem to wash away sin and impurity. Just as Joseph's brothers repented and wept over their sin toward their brother, Israel will do the same over Jesus on the day that he is revealed as their Messiah. I don't think Stephen had this in mind when he was saying this. I think he hoped that he and the apostles were the second visitation to the Sanhedrin and the Jewish people.

But that second visitation will be Jesus himself picking things up. Halfway through verse 15, he and our ancestors, Joseph and our ancestors died there in Egypt, were carried back to Sheckham and were placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor and Shekham. Where were the first generation of the sons of Israel sustained, blessed, and prospered by God in Egypt? Not Israel. When their bodies were buried in Shechem, it was still Samaritan-owned territory there.

Being buried there was actually an act of faith that God would fulfill his covenant and give the Promised Land to people from the tribe of Israel one day in the future. This is Stephen again, highlighting the fact that Israel was founded on faith in God. Before they had the law, before they had a temple, before they had a holy city, before they had a holy land, the patriarchs died with their faith in God, and Stephen now shifts his focus to a great man in Israel's history whose memory and name he had been accused of blasphemy. A man who like Stephen was also a picture of Jesus, Moses. In verse 17, he says, as the time was approaching to fulfill the promise that God had made to Abraham, the promise that he would give Abraham's family line the Promised Land.

Stephen points out that God always has a plan. He always has a specific time when he will fulfill every promise he has made. Just as God appointed Joseph to be the prime minister of Egypt, so that he was there at a specific time, just as God appointed Moses to be there at a specific time, he has sent Jesus for a specific time. He says the people flourished and multiplied. Here we see it in Egypt.

Israel grew from 75 people to an estimated couple of million people in Egypt, the people of God, Israel, flourished and multiplied in Egypt. Again, God's work among his people was not limited or restricted to a temple, a city, or a specific location. Then, he says, until a different king who did not know Joseph ruled over Egypt. And Steven will now talk about how God orchestrated events in Egypt to accomplish his purposes for his people. And if you're familiar with the Exodus account, you'll know that this specific pharaoh woke up one day and became alarmed by the fact that the Hebrews were flourishing and multiplying.

He looked at them and said, these guys are going to take over Egypt. There's too many of them. If you studied the story of Israel across the Old Testament, or maybe you're doing it now with us in home groups, you'll understand. I thought about this for the first time this week. If God had not raised up this wicked Pharaoh to enslave Israel, they would never have left Egypt, ever.

Israel would not have cared enough about God's promise of a Promised Land to leave their comfort and prosperity in Egypt. We see this at the end of the Babylonian exile, when only a small fraction of the Israelis choose to leave Babylon and return to the Promised Land. Even when the king offers the money to rebuild Jerusalem. Most of them just stay in Babylon. They're like, we're good.

What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............

It says, but God was with him. God was with Joseph and rescued him out of all of his troubles. He gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, King of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and over his whole household. Stephen repeats a point we mentioned in our previous study. The fact that God was with Joseph and blessed Joseph in Egypt proves again that God has never needed a holy temple, city, or land to meet with his people.

Joseph's story in the Book of Genesis reveals that Joseph was a type. He was a prophetic picture of Jesus. In the Old Testament, there are these men whose lives are called types, as in a word like prototype or archetype. They were real men who lived, and the things written about them in the Bible are true. But God orchestrated events so that certain aspects of their life created a prophetic picture that would point ahead to the ministry of Jesus sometimes thousands of years later.

Joseph is one of these types of Jesus. Joseph was given authority over all that belonged to Pharaoh. Other than Pharaoh, Joseph was the mightiest man in Egypt, with more power than anyone else. The Heavenly Father has given Jesus authority over all things. Paul writes in Philippians 2 and it's on your outlines.

God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. And Stephen continues in verse 11 now a famine and great suffering came over all of Egypt and Canaan, and our ancestors could find no food. Steven makes a point here that I think is unintentional. I think it's the Lord speaking through him, even though he's not fully aware of it. As I mentioned earlier, the patriarch's rejection of Joseph was the first of what would become a pattern of Israel rejecting the messengers that God sent to her, and it was followed by a season of literal famine.

Similarly, Israel's rejection of Jesus plunged them into a spiritual famine that will last until the day when Paul writes, and then all Israel will be saved. For you see, like Joseph, Jesus has been empowered and positioned to save the very people who sought to arrange his demise. Says in verse 12, when Jacob heard there was grain in Egypt, he sent our ancestors there the first time underlying the first time, now underlying the first. Three words of verse 13 the second time Joseph revealed himself to his brothers and Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh. Joseph invited his father Jacob and all his relatives, 75 people in all, and Jacob went down to Egypt.

If you've studied the Exodus story, you know that incredible scene where it's revealed that the most powerful man in Egypt is their brother. Not only is he alive, but he's the prime minister of Egypt and will use his position to save them and bring them into the kingdom of Egypt and prosper them all. Now, in the same way, Israel will not recognize who Jesus truly is until his Second Coming. When that time comes, Jesus will be revealed as the Savior of Israel, and the relationship will be restored, just as Joseph's relationship with his brothers was restored. So write this down.

It's your first fill-in. Israel only received Joseph and Moses the second time they came to them, so it shall be with Jesus, Israel's Messiah, at the Second Coming. At the Second Coming. Like the apostle Paul in Romans 11, the prophet Zechariah foretells of this day in chapters 12 and 13 of his book prophesying from the perspective of Jesus. Then I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the house of David and the residence of Jerusalem, and they will look at me, whom they pierced.

What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............

Stephen (Part 2)
Date:9/25/22

Series: Acts,,,Passage: Acts 7:9-43

Speaker: Jeff Thompson

Stephen continues his address to the Sanhedrin, highlighting Israel’s tragic history of rejecting God’s messengers and wasting opportunities to be delivered from slavery, exile, and aimless wandering

Last week we focused on Steven, a man described as full of faith and the Holy Spirit, full of wisdom, and full of grace and power. In fact, we were told that Stephen was performing great wonders and signs among the people. And the original Greek of that text told us this was happening on a continual basis. In other words, in the early days of the church in Jerusalem, around 32 Ad. Stephen was healing the sick and performing miracles on a similar level to that of the apostles.

He got into one or more debates with some men from local synagogues. Steven's arguments were all rooted in the Old Testament scriptures and inspired by the Holy Spirit, which is why we read that Stephen's opponents were unable to stand up against his wisdom and the spirit by whom he was speaking. Instead of recognizing the truth and responding to the gospel that Stephen was preaching, these men hardened their hearts, arranged false witnesses, brought charges against Stephen, and dragged him before the Sanhedrin, the ruling council of Jewish religious leaders in Jerusalem at the time. Specifically, they charged Stephen with speaking blasphemies against Moses, the Law, the Temple, and God himself. The reason for these charges is that the Jewish religious leaders known collectively as the Sanhedrin had been given power by their Roman overlords to try and punish only one specific type of crime, attacks against the temple in word or deed.

All other crimes had to go through Roman prefects who were overseeing the province of Judea at the time. So they charged Steven with the one crime they knew they could execute themselves for blasphemy against the temple. Today we're going to pick things up where we left off last week. We're right in the middle of Stephen's address to the Sanhedrin. In response to these charges, every sentence that Stephen speaks is loaded with meaning and subtext that the Sanhedrin would have understood.

And as we study our way through this, I'll do my best to just bring out that subtext and that hidden meaning behind the text. As we make our way through this, we're going to pick things up. In Acts chapter seven, verses nine, Stephen will now focus on a few specifics from the life of Joseph. He says the patriarchs became jealous, underline jealous. They became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt.

If you're familiar with that story, Steven is referring to the brothers of Joseph, but he called them here the patriarchs. The patriarchs were the twelve sons of Jacob who became the twelve tribes of Israel. They were called the patriarchs because they were and are viewed as the fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel. Steven reminds the Sanhedrin that their venerated patriarchs became jealous of their brother Joseph, the most righteous and Godly among them, and sold him to passing slave traders who then sold Joseph in Egypt, the mightiest empire in the world at the time. The heir would have been thick with tension.

As Stephen pointed out Israel's pattern of rejecting God's chosen messengers began with the patriarchs, the fathers of the nation of Israel. The inference was that the Sanhedrin was walking in the same pattern as the patriarchs by hating their brother Jesus of Nazareth without cause because they were jealous of him, and their jealousy rendered them spiritually blind. And sadly. There are three times in the Book of Acts where we'll see the Jewish religious leaders become jealous when the crowds come to the apostles to hear the Gospel and be healed. Let's keep reading.

What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............

Make a note of this. Like Abraham. God has marked us as his people. Scripture says that he circumcised our hearts by putting His Spirit within us. We're not like the rest of the world.

And one of the most underrated benefits of having the Holy Spirit within us is that he is available. He's available as often as we need to remind us of who we belong to and man, we need to be reminded of that we're sons and daughters of the living God, the God of heaven and earth, who's high above all things. Did you know that you can just ask God to do that at any moment? Just to remind you who you are in Christ, just to remind you who you are. And he will.

He will. Anywhere, anytime. The Holy Spirit marks us as the people of God. I'm going to ask the worship team to come up as I get ready to close. These are all simple truths, but they are profound truths.

Imagine if Abraham had said no one time that God called him to relocate. Imagine if he had said, I really like it here. I've got a nice place. I'm getting on with my neighbors. Business is doing well.I'm just not at that stage of life. God, where a move is good right now, kind of in kickback gear, I've hit the peak of my career and this is my time to just enjoy myself. Can I tell you a secret?

There's never going to be a stage of life where faith doesn't require faith. If you ever find yourself in that situation, it simply means you've stopped living and walking by faith. Obey God today. Whatever it looks like, whatever it costs, whatever stage of life you're in, whatever circumstance you're in, obey God today and then obey God tomorrow, whatever it looks like, whatever it costs you. And keep doing that until you wake up one day in the presence of Jesus, which you will because when that day comes, you will realize that you lived wisely and profitably because you lived your whole life by faith, and you lived for the only thing that actually matters the glory of Jesus.

Peter wrote this in his first Epistle. It's on your outlines. Take this to heart. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who according to his abundant mercy. Has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last days. In this, you greatly rejoice, though now, for a little while, if need be. You've been grieved by various trials that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, who having not seen you love, though now you do not see Him, yet believing you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

We do not labor in vain, Church. We do not labor in vain. Keep your head up, keep your eyes on Jesus. Keep the faith, stay on the narrow path.

Take up your cross daily and follow Jesus, because what no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human heart has conceived, god has prepared these things for those who love Him.

What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............

Like Abraham, we have been given a promise that we will not see fulfilled during our earthly lives, and we have been called to follow God toward it by faith. The apostle Peter urged the brethren to remember to live their lives as sojourners and pilgrims. Paul reminded the Philippians that our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to his glorious body. And Jesus told Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and have yet believed.

Jesus is talking about you and me, and today he would say to you, blessed are you who have not seen and yet have believed. John wrote to the brethren, behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God. Therefore, the world does not know us because it did not know him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that when it is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as he is.

If you ever feel out of place in this world, it's because you are. You are out of place in this world. You belong with Jesus. You are a sojourner in this life, a pilgrim. And as we journey toward Jesus, it is our job as his ambassadors to tell as many people as possible where we're going, how we're going to get there, how wonderful Jesus is, and most of all, how much he wants them to come to we're people of the promise.

Just like Abraham. Write this down like Abraham, we must be ready to follow the Lord wherever he leads us. We must be ready to follow the Lord wherever he leads us. Unlike Abraham, we must not dictate to the Lord the manner in which he fulfills his promises to us. We should be careful to not be like the Sanhedrin who determined that God's promised Messiah had to facilitate the continuation of temple rituals and the law and restore the nation of Israel to political prominence.

They put conditions on the way that God was to fulfill his promise, and we should be careful not to do the same and assume things like God's plans for my life can be whatever he wants as long as they include a comfortable middle or upper middle-class lifestyle. God's plans for my life are limitless as long as they take place in the city where I live right now, because I really like it here. God's plans. For my life must include the exact number of children that I find most convenient. Not less, not more.

God needs to keep his hands off that. God's plans for my life must include me getting married around this specific age can't be younger, can't be older. God's plans for my life can be whatever he decides, as long as they take place in my preferred career path. God's plans for my life must include the absence of health problems. I'm not open to that.

For God's plans for my life must include no tragedies. And on and on and on. I could go the follower of Jesus, pray your will be done, your will be done, and then remain open to however the Lord chooses to accomplish his will. That's his business. And the follower of Jesus knows that however the Lord chooses to accomplish his will, it will require faith and action.

God is able to accomplish his will. Even when you're in Egypt, even when things look hopeless, even when days are dark, the plans of God are not limited by your location or your circumstances, or your financial situation, your relational situation, or your health situation.

What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............

When Israel spent all those years in slavery in Egypt, out of the Promised Land, was God's plan limited? Was it derailed? Was it delayed? On the contrary, it was in Egypt, in slavery, that the nation of Israel grew and exploded in number exponentially. The plans of God are not limited by location or anything else.

There is nothing that ever comes up that can derail the plans of God. Nothing. He is able to work wonders and accomplish his plans however he chooses. Steven points out that Abraham never even owned a foot of land in the Promised Land. He never had a tangible object in which to place his faith, like a temple, a city, or a piece of land he owned.

All he had to go on was the word of God, and that was enough. And that's why Abraham goes down in history as the father of faith. Genesis 15:6 tells us, Abram believed the Lord, and God credited it to him as righteousness. Abraham didn't have the law, he didn't have the land of Israel, he didn't have the city of Jerusalem, and he didn't have the temple, but he believed in the promises of God, and because he did, God judged him righteous. The implication is that the Sanhedrin had placed their faith not in God or his promises, but in the Law, the temple, the city of Jerusalem, and the land of Israel.

Stephen's point is that Israel was founded on faith. The only sign given to Abraham was circumcision, a physical mark of God's covenant, marking him and those in his line as the people of God. And even this Abraham did by faith, without the law, without a temple, without a holy city or country. Abraham met with God, was directed by God, was given promises by God, obeyed God, and pleased God. True worship of God, Steven was arguing, has always been about a holy God making for Himself a holy people.

And to do that, he requires only faith and obedience. Now, for the final part of the message I said final part, not final minutes. For the final part, I want to look at some things that we can take from Stephen's words, encouragement, exhortation, and reminders. Firstly, write this down. Like Abraham, we are able to fellowship with God anywhere.

We're able to fellowship with God anywhere. We don't need a priest, a temple, or a holy location. God has made all who have placed their faith in Jesus into temples of the Spirit of God, his very presence. I know you know this, but I pray that it astounds you one more time. As you hear it, wherever you go, the presence of God goes with you because he is in you.

In One Timothy Two, Paul writes, that there's one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all. Our access to God is through Jesus anytime, anywhere. Probably my favorite verse in the whole Bible, Hebrews 4/15 and 16 it's on your outline declares, we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin. Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need. As a side note, I trust everyone here is mature enough to not respond to the reality that we can fellowship with God anywhere by thinking, great, I don't need to come to church anymore.

Then you need to be involved in the church's life because Jesus wants his people to fellowship with Him and one another. And you cannot do the one without one another, and he desires his church to serve and worship Him both individually and collectively. That is the will of Jesus. And anyone who says, I'm going to follow Jesus without being involved with his people is not in the will of God.

What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............

He didn't give him an inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground, but he promised to give it to him as a possession and to his descendants after him, even though he was childless. God spoke in this way. His descendants would be strangers in a foreign country, and they would enslave and oppress them for 400 years. That's speaking, of course, of Israel's slavery in Egypt. I will judge the nation that they serve as slaves.

God said, after this, they will come out and worship me in this place. And so he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. After this, he fathered Isaac and circumcised him. On the 8th day, Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the Twelve Patriarchs. Stephen points out that God introduced himself to the father of Israel and Judaism, Abraham, and fellowshipped with him outside of the holy city of Jerusalem and outside even the holy land of Israel.

In fact, he met with Abraham in Haran, a pagan Mesopotamian city noted for its worship of the moon. So write this down. Stevens's first point is that God has never needed a holy temple, city, or land to meet with his people. God has never needed a holy temple, city, or land to meet with his people. Stephen's second point is that Abraham lived by faith in promises given to him by God.

Abraham had to be willing to change his plans whenever God revealed the next step. He had to literally move to stay in the will and plan of God. In the famous hall of Faith of Hebrews Eleven, we read this about Abraham. It's on your outlines. By faith, Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and set out for a place that he was going to receive as an inheritance.

He went out even though he did not know where he was. Going by faith. He stayed as a foreigner in the land of Promise, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, coheirs of the same promise, for he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. Steve's next point is that God gives his people promises. That necessitates faith, action, and a willingness to follow wherever he leads.

And here's the connection to the Sanhedrin and the Jews who rejected Jesus. God had given Israel the promise that he would send her a Messiah. Israel had faith in that promise. However, they were unwilling to accept Jesus as Messiah because he didn't meet their fleshly expectations. They wanted a militant messiah who would overthrow the Romans.

Abraham had faith even when the next step didn't make sense to him. He went out when God told him to go, even when he didn't know where he was going. He trusted God to provide a child, even though he and Sarah were impossibly old. The Father of Israel lived by faith and followed God wherever he was led. The glory of God appeared to Abraham, and so he followed.

The glory of God appeared to Israel in the man Christ Jesus. But Israel said we will not follow. We will not have this man rule over us. Abraham encountered God in such a way that he was compelled to follow and obey him. Jesus told his disciples, the one who has seen me has seen the Father.

But Israel refused to follow and obey Jesus. Write this down. This is Stephen's next point.
Those who follow God cannot dictate how he fulfills his promises. The promised Messiah showed up, and Israel said, we have terms and conditions. Though the Messiah must overthrow the Romans, those who follow God don't get to tell him how he ought to fulfill his promises. The Sanhedrin had added to the Scriptures by insisting that any fulfillment of God's messianic promises had to include the continuation of temple rituals, it had to include the continuation of the Law, and it had to include the political prosperity of the nation of Israel. But the Lord had other plans, plans that were tragically unacceptable to the Sanhedrin.

What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............

And all who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at him, at Stephen, and saw that - underline this - his face was like the face of an angel. If you want to understand the kind of man that Stephen was, or more importantly, if you want to understand how God viewed Stephen, consider that God only did something like this for one other man in history - Moses' face, you will recall, glowed with God's glory after he had fellowship with him. Stephen was marked by God as one of the greatest men who ever lived. God was saying that he was a man on the level of Moses.

The Sanhedrin would obviously be familiar with the story of Moses and his shining face, and they would have understood the significance of Stephen's visage. It was God authenticating Stephen as his representative. This was God saying, this man has been with me, this man represents me, and this man speaks the truth about me. The Sanhedrin had known the Spirit of God was on Jesus and they knew the Spirit of God was on Stephen. They could see it on his face.

Steven's Gloriously anointed face reminds me of a Spurgeon quote which isn't totally connected but was just so good. I had to just throw it in here because it's one of my favorites. He was talking one time, it is said, to a group of students who aspire to a life of vocational ministry. And he told the men, "When you teach on Heaven, let there always be a glow on your face, a gleam in your eye, and a smile on your lips. When you teach on hell, your normal face will do fine."

That's a good quote, right? So, with the charges laid out against Stephen, our story continues into chapter seven/1 Are these things true? The high priest asked. The high priest is likely still Caiaphas, who oversaw the trial of Jesus.

Stephen, under the inspiration and direction of the Holy Spirit, will now deliver an incredible speech that will address the accusations against him by pointing to Israel's history. It will reveal damning patterns of behavior across Israel's history, and it will turn the tables on as accusers, instead proving their guilt before God. As we study through Stephen's speech, remember the charges that have been leveled against him. He's been accused of speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God, and he's been accused of speaking against this holy place, the Temple, and the Law. The overriding charge is blasphemy, punishable by death by stoning.

Specifically, the charges are speaking blasphemy against Moses, God, the Temple, and the Law. Verse two. "Brothers and fathers, he replied. Listen, the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham." Stephen addresses the Sanhedrin as brothers because he's Jewish and so are they.

The use of the term fathers shows respect and recognition of their authority. He refers to Abraham as our father. Remember, in the minds of all Christians at this time, they're still religiously Jewish because they view themselves as simply continuing the Jewish faith by placing their faith in the Jewish Messiah who was prophesied by the Jewish scriptures. They don't view themselves as something different from the temple and the law and all of these things. Stephen acknowledges the God of glory as being the God of Abraham, and he acknowledges Abraham as the father of the nation of Israel.

This was Steven's way of saying, I'm an Orthodox Jew. I worship the God of Abraham, just like you, and any accusation to the contrary is false. He says the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia before he settled in Harran and said to him, leave your country and relatives and come to the land that I will show you. Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. From there, after his father died, God had to move to the land in which you are now living.

What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............

I don't know if you've ever seen news clippings or videos of the religious mobs of Hindus or Muslims that form regularly and riot and protest in places like Pakistan and Malaysia, where even an accusation of blasphemy can lead to someone being dragged from their home and lynched, beaten, burned to death, or worse.

A group of people come together and a psychological mob mentality is formed in their collective outrage, and they just amplify each other's rage into this animalistic state where they would literally tear a person limb from limb. That's the kind of intensity that was in play in Jerusalem at this time, and that kind of thing could happen at any moment if witnesses suddenly began claiming that somebody had blasphemed Yahweh or the Temple or the Law or the patriarchs. That's what happened with Jesus, and it's what's happening here with Stephen, who now finds himself before the very same council of religious leaders who judged Jesus just a few months earlier and falsely condemned him. Verse 13, they also presented false witnesses who said, this man never stops speaking against this holy place and the Law. We heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth would destroy this place, the temple, and change the customs that Moses handed down to us.

The second charge in verse 14 was because Stephen was teaching that the Law had been fulfilled by Jesus the Messiah, and therefore followers of Yahweh were no longer under the Law. But they were misrepresenting Stephen's argument and presenting it as though Stephen despised and dismissed the Law. Stephen's coming response will show that, on the contrary, he deeply venerated the Law. He simply understood the Law's correct place and role in light of the sinless life of Jesus. But the first charge is interesting.

They claim we heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place. Speaking of the Temple, does that remind anybody of anything? In Matthew 26, we're told that at the trial of Jesus, two false witnesses who came forward stated this man said, I can destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days. Like Jesus, Stephen was accused by false witnesses. And like Jesus, he was charged with the claim that Jesus had said he would destroy the temple.

And Jesus did indeed claim that the temple of God would be destroyed and rebuilt in three days. But these false witnesses left out a crucial detail. John 2/21 tells us that Jesus was speaking of his body, not the temple building in Jerusalem. For indeed Jesus would be destroyed. He would die and then rise in glory three days later.

When we get to Acts 21, we will hear similar charges brought against the apostle Paul. In verse 28, we'll read about some Jews who stir up a crowd by shouting, this is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people, our Law, and this place. Speaking of the temple, the reason that Jews in Jerusalem attempted to condemn Jesus, Stephen, and Paul with the same charges is likely because the Romans had given the Sanhedrin the authority to try and execute punishments for one specific type of offense profaning the Temple in word or deed. If this was the charge, the Sanhedrin could deal with the offender at their own discretion. The temple police could get involved.

No Romans needed to be consulted. Had they been able to make those charges stick against Jesus, they could have stoned him to death. That was their first plan. Because they couldn't, they had to change tactics and get Jesus sentenced to death via their Roman overlords, which they did by misrepresenting Jesus' claims to be God and king as an affront to the authority of the Roman Emperor. Verse 15.

What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............

Socrates, a classic Socratic argument presents premises, a series of arguments or facts that, if proven true and reasonable, lead to and provide support for a conclusion. If your premises are found to be false or logically unsound, then they will not support your conclusion and your argument will therefore collapse. Stevens's premises would have consisted entirely of scriptures from the Old Testament.

None of the freedoms could argue with any of his premises because they accepted and recognized the authority of those scriptures. However, they simply could not accept any of Steven's conclusions because they sounded so radical and so scandalous. They couldn't argue against his arguments, they couldn't prove him wrong, but they refused to accept what Stephen was able to prove. So just as people do today, they switch to an ad hominem attack. Ad hominem is Latin for to the person.

It's a fallacious strategy employed by those who do not possess a winnable argument. And so instead of addressing the substance of the other person's argument, they attack the person's character or motive or some other attribute. For example, I might say, I think that printing money and giving it to people in the name of coveting inflation is foolish because printing more money is what causes inflation. And a person might respond by saying, That's exactly the kind of compassionless and uncaring response I would expect from someone who clearly doesn't care about people, who can't afford food right now. Did you notice that they don't actually address the substance of my argument at all?

Instead, they attack my character, they attack my motives. That's an ad hominem argument, and it's used all the time in the public arena. Verse eleven then they secretly persuaded some men to say, we heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God. They stirred up the people, the elders and the scribes. So they came, seized him, and took him to the Sanhedrin.

In his fantastic message last week, BJ reminded us of how fickle the crowds that gathered around Jesus during his earthly ministry. They flocked by the thousands to the man who healed the sick and fed the hungry but disappeared just as quickly when his teaching became challenging. Up to this point, the crowds in Jerusalem had been passionately in favor of the church. In Acts 4/21, remember, the Sanhedrin felt they couldn't do anything to Peter and John because as a result of their ministry, it says the people were all giving glory to God. In Acts chapter five, the apostles were jailed and then supernaturally freed by God.

They immediately went back out in public and started preaching again. And when the temple guard went to arrest them in verse 26, told us, that the commander went with the servants and brought them in without force because they were afraid the people might stone them. The temple guards were afraid that the crowd might stone them because the apostles had so much favor in Jerusalem at that time. But here already in Acts chapter six, just a few weeks later, something has changed. In verse twelve, the same crowds that adored the apostles in chapters four and five are able to be stirred up into a religious frenzy in which they see Stephen and drag him by force before the Sanhedrin.

The dynamic is reminiscent of the crowd that was stirred up against Jesus following his arrest. The crowd that turned into a mob and cried out repeatedly, crucify him. Crucify him with such intensity that the cowardly Pontious Pilot felt it necessary to acquiesce to their demands in the name of political and possibly physical self-preservation. I think we generally fail to grasp just how much religious fervor was in play in the city of Jerusalem in the first century Ad.

What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............

But Stephen's speech will make it clear that he already understood theological concepts like Jesus having fulfilled the Law on our behalf, justification by faith, and the giving of the Holy Spirit, meaning that God's presence was no longer confined to the holy of holies in the Temple. Jesus had said of himself, I tell you that something greater than the Temple is here. Stephen was likely arguing that the Law and Temple rituals were done with because their purpose had been fulfilled in and by Jesus of Nazareth.

The people of God were now the priesthood, and every individual was now a Temple of the Holy Spirit, the presence of God. Therefore, many scholars view Stephen as the theological forerunner of the Apostle Paul, who will actually cross paths with Stephen shortly under tragic circumstances. To the freedmen, Stephen would have sounded as though he were attacking everything Judaism held sacred, like the Temple and the Law. As was the case with Jesus. Nobody had a problem with the miracles that Stephen was performing.

Nobody had a problem with the signs and wonders. Nobody had a problem with him overseeing food distribution to widows. They had a problem with the message he was teaching. Just as nobody had a problem with Jesus performing miracles, healing the sick, turning water into wine, or providing free food. They didn't kill Jesus for any of that.

They killed him because of the message he was teaching. Just as nobody today has a problem when the Church feeds the hungry or houses the homeless. But they do have a problem when the Church teaches the Bible faithfully. Would you write this down? The world is offended by the message of the Gospel and the Word of God.

The world is offended by the message of the Gospel and the Word of God. If you're looking for a Church that he going to love, all you have to do is look for one that doesn't preach the Gospel and doesn't teach the Word of God. And the sad thing is they're out there. How did Friedman's debate or debates with Stephen go? Well, we read but they were unable to stand up against his wisdom, underlying wisdom, and then underline the rest of the sentence and the Spirit by whom he was speaking.

So how did Steven become so incredibly wise? The same way you and I can. Psalm 19, verse 7 tells us the instruction of the Lord is perfect, renewing one's life. The testimony of the Lord is trustworthy, making the inexperienced, wise whoever you are, if you will become a man or woman, of the Word. If you will submit to the Word, if you will allow the Word to shape you and have authority over your life, you will become wise.

You will. Stephen was a man of the Scriptures. He knew them. He had been shaped by them, as we shall see shortly in his speech to the Sanhedrin. We were told twice in chapter six that Stephen was a man full of the Holy Spirit.

And so when the moment demanded it, the Holy Spirit flowed out of Stephen's life. God can do great things with the man or woman who is full of His Word and full of His Spirit. That person is ready to be used by the Lord, ready to be called upon for service. And in this instance, God revealed that these freedmen were not full of the Word or full of the Spirit. They were simply full of it.

That was pretty good. Much better than that reaction, by the way. Come on now, man. You see, their reasoning came from human understanding, but Steven's reasoning came from the Spirit of God. His thinking and argumentation had a supernatural and divine source.

Stephen was one of the first fulfillment of Jesus promise in Luke 21, where he told his disciples, make up your mind not to prepare your defense ahead of time, for I will give you such words and the wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict classical debates to this day. Generally revolve, would he? Socratic method, named after the famous Greek philosopher of antiquity,

What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............

Stephen (Part 1)
Date:9/18/22

Series: Acts

Passage: Acts 6:8-7:8...Speaker: Jeff Thompson

Stephen was one of the greatest men who ever lived. In Part 1, we’ll study his rise to prominence in the Early Church, the adversity he encountered, how he answered charges of blasphemy brought against him, and what his message means for us today.

Last week in Acts chapter six, we were introduced to Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit. He was one of the seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and wisdom chosen to verses the distribution of food to the Hellenistic widows in the Jerusalem church. Today's text will continue Steven's story as God works mighty things through this amazing man. In just a few weeks, or at most months, we're going to see several parallels between Stephen and Jesus. The Lord wants us to recognize that Stephen was Christ-like and the Lord wants us to recognize where that led Steven's earthly life.

In Luke chapter two, we are told that as a boy Jesus grew up and became strong, and filled with wisdom, and God's grace was on him. And a few verses later we read and Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and favor with God and with people. Now, compare that with verse three and verse five and what we read about Stephen's development in verse eight. It says now Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people. The original Greek tells us that Stephen was doing this consistently on an ongoing basis.

In other words, Stephen was working wonders, performing miracles, healing the sick on the level of the apostles, the Lord anointed Stephen with incredible power in these early days of the Church. Like the Lord Jesus, Stephen was admired by the people for the great wonders and signs he performed among them. And like the Lord Jesus, he remained a humble servant, waiting tables 1 minute and performing wondrous miracles the next, it says opposition arose, however, from some members of the freedman synagogue composed of both Sirenians and Alexandrians and some from Cilicia and Asia. And they began to argue with Stephen.

Friedmen were Jewish slaves or the children of Jewish slaves who had been set free by their Roman masters. They often formed their synagogues. At this time, synagogues were centers of Jewish communal and academic life. That's why, even though the temple was located in Jerusalem, there were also many, possibly even hundreds of synagogues located around the city. The freedmen in view here belonged to one or more of those synagogues.

Steven was himself a Hellenistic Jew, a Greek-speaking Jew who had been raised in Greek culture rather than Hebrew culture. You'll recall that all of the seven men who were chosen to verses the distribution of food to the Hellenistic widows were themselves Hellenistic Jews. It's possible that Stephen belonged to one of these freed men's synagogues. When it says that they begin to argue with Steve. And the original Greek tells us they were having formal debates or at least a formal debate.

Subsequent events will make it clear that their debate centered on the death and resurrection and Messiahship of Jesus of Nazareth and the inability of the Mosaic law and temple rituals to provide salvation it seems that as a Hellenistic Jew, Stephen's theological understanding of these areas may have been significantly more advanced than even that of the disciples and the apostles. We don't have any indication in Scripture that the apostles were yet wrestling with how Jesus' life, death, and resurrection affected the role of the Law and the Temple in the life of the believer.

What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............

Forgiving is not easy.
Believe me it is not always easy to forgive. My sister had hurt me pretty bad again, and I had a hard time forgiving her.
I heard a scripture in my head that said; "Vengeance is mine, sayest the Lord.”
I thought this was just great! “Okay Lord, I forgive my sister, You go get her!”

When I told this at the Bible study, one wise sister said; "Jenny, that was not forgiving what you did, it was passing the buck you must forgive her without you thinking of revenge.
The Lord may not punish her at all, and you surely may never wish that He did."

“What do you mean? He may let her get away with it. That is not fair, she deserves to be punished!”
To forgive my sister now was not easy, but I finally managed to do so.

* I read about a woman, who had seen her sister and father, die in a concentration camp. This family had been hiding Jews during the war, and were betrayed by someone. This lady was the only one of her family that came out of the war alive. She became an evangelist as she had promised God she would. She had been preaching in Germany when a man came to her, she recognized him as the one who had been cruel to her sister when he had been a camp guard. He now came to her with his hands outstretched and said; “It is true what you just said, God does forgive everybody that asked Him and He has forgiven me.”

This lady fought the battle of her life, when after what seemed like a long spell, she took his hands in hers and welcomed him into the family of God.

I was in “Melody Land,” when a visiting minister asked those who needed to forgive someone, to come up on the platform. He told us to close our eyes, and to ask the Lord to reveal to us, whom and what we needed to forgive. I was shocked to find that there were so many people and things that had been done to me, that I thought I had long forgotten. It all came back to me now. Wow!

As a new Christian, there is so much to learn. Like how do I get more patience and how do I get more love to give to others? Pray, right? Right!
You better mean what you ask for, because He does not answer you in the way you will expect. At least I did not expect it to work that way.

I thought that when I needed patience, I would cry out to the Lord; “Please give me more patience,” the next thing you know, there it would be, all the patience I needed.
I was so wrong!

I had to drive about 15 kilometers to get to work. Through farm country. What was that on the road ahead of me? They were farm tractors. Everyday they were there and I could not pass them! I said; "Lord! Please get those things moving!"
“Did you not ask for patience? Well, this is how you learn!”

Some people don't learn quickly, or just forget a lesson learned, but I had now asked the Lord for more love, so I could love others more, than the love I felt at times for my brothers and sisters in the church.

You pray this or that way at times and then sort of forget about it. Not to worry, the Lord has a way of reminding you. I was at a Bible study when a woman that was not so lovable to me, came over to talk.

She gave me a hug and I had to give her a hug, the Lord said; “See if you can love this person, the next one will be easier.” And so it was!

What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............

And so, Lord, we want to forgive because we've been forgiven, where we don't know how to do that, where the flesh is just so loud and so stubborn. We just say, in the name of Jesus, the blood of Jesus is stronger. The power that is in us is greater than the power that is in the world. The Spirit is greater than the flesh. The cross is greater than the grave.

Mercy, triumphs, covet, judgment, let it be so in our lives. And so we forgive, Lord, anything, anyone that has wronged us, lord, if there's anything that needs to come to mind, would you bring it to mind right now so that we can be obedient and forgive? And we do that in Jesus name, in faith. And then, Lord, I pray for anyone who loves you in this room who has an emotional need, maybe one that's so deep they don't even think they can pray it out loud and ask for it. But you know, lord, you know.

You see. And so collectively, Lord, we lift up those among us, our brothers and sisters who we love, who are wrestling with deep hurts, with discouragement, with depression or anxiety or pain or hurt or shame, whatever it is, you know? And so we ask our heavenly Father, who we know loves us, father, would you provide what is needed? We release joy in the name of Jesus. Peace.

In the name of Jesus. Faith and hope in the name of Jesus. Strength in the name of Jesus. The energy of the Holy Spirit who works so powerfully in us. In the name of Jesus.

Lord, there are needs in this room that none of us can meet, but you can. And so we ask that you would do it, and we thank you for it. In faith. We love you, Lord. You're just so good.

And we bless you that you care about all these little things in our life. You're sovereign over galaxies, over the most distant regions of the universe, and yet you are concerned with our good here and now, with our relationships, with our state of mind, with the condition of our hearts. Who can fathom a God like that? And yet you are. So we just love you.

And we declare Your wonderful praise worthy above anything else else. We ask that you would inhabit our praises in this time, as we thank you just for who you are and for what You've done for us. We love you, Lord. In your name we pray. Amen.

What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............

And so, Lord, we want to forgive because we've been forgiven, where we don't know how to do that, where the flesh is just so loud and so stubborn. We just say, in the name of Jesus, the blood of Jesus is stronger. The power that is in us is greater than the power that is in the world. The Spirit is greater than the flesh. The cross is greater than the grave.

Mercy, triumphs, covet, judgment, let it be so in our lives. And so we forgive, Lord, anything, anyone that has wronged us, lord, if there's anything that needs to come to mind, would you bring it to mind right now so that we can be obedient and forgive? And we do that in Jesus's name, in faith. And then, Lord, I pray for anyone who loves you in this room who has an emotional need, maybe one that's so deep they don't even think they can pray it out loud and ask for it. But you know, lord, you know.

You see. And so collectively, Lord, we lift up those among us, our brothers and sisters who we love, who are wrestling with deep hurts, with discouragement, with depression or anxiety or pain or hurt or shame, whatever it is, you know? And so we ask our heavenly Father, who we know loves us, Father, would you provide what is needed? We release joy in the name of Jesus. Peace.

In the name of Jesus. Faith and hope in the name of Jesus. Strength in the name of Jesus. The energy of the Holy Spirit who works so powerfully in us. In the name of Jesus.

Lord, there are needs in this room that none of us can meet, but you can. And so we ask that you do it, and we thank you for it. In faith. We love you, Lord. You're just so good.

And we bless you that you care about all these little things in our life. You're sovereign over galaxies, over the most distant regions of the universe, and yet you are concerned with our good here and now, with our relationships, with our state of mind, with the condition of our hearts. Who can fathom a God like that? And yet you are. So we just love you.

And we declare Your wonderful praiseworthy above anything else else. We ask that You would inhabit our praises in this time, as we thank You just for who You are and for what You've done for us. We love you, Lord. In Your name, we pray. Amen.

What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............

Ask for peace if you need it. Ask for comfort if you need it. Ask for joy if you need it. Trust that you have a Heavenly Father who loves you. If you don't have that kind of relationship with God yet, and you want to, you can.

You can. He would love you to be part of his family. He would love you to have a life oriented around Him so that he can bless you that way. And if you want that, come and talk to me or BJ after the service. We'll talk and pray with you and we'll take that next step together.

And lastly, forgiveness. Man, if there's someone you need to forgive, do it. And if it seems impossible and you don't know how, bring that need to your Heavenly Father. Say, lord, I don't know how to forgive this person, but I want to, because I know you've forgiven me. I want to forgive as You've forgiven me.

Help me to do it, Lord, and then just in faith in your own heart. Just pray, lord, I forgive them. In Jesus's name, by the power of the Spirit, I forgive them and let it go. And I believe he'll empower you to do that. You may need to do it again tomorrow, but then do it tomorrow.

You may need to do it again the next day, then do it again the next day. But we must forgive. This is not a recommendation from the Lord Jesus. This is a command from the One who has forgiven us of the unforgivable. So we must obey.

And if we understand the Gospel, we will feel compelled to obey. Let's pray together. Would you bow your head and close your eyes? Jesus, thank you so much for Your word. And thank You for the truth of Your word.

And thank you that every single one of us has a reason to praise you this evening, a reason to be thankful, a reason to call ourselves blessed because we have been forgiven an unforgivable debt. The slate has been wiped clean with Your blood. And You've brought us into Your family, adopted us as sons and daughters. And when you look at us, you see us the way you see your Son Jesus spotless and blameless robed in his righteousness, not with a righteousness of our own, but a righteousness given to us by the generosity of Jesus. And so we thank you for that.

And we confess. We are blessed. We are blessed beyond measure.
Lord, we could sing a thousand songs for 100 days, and I'll put a dent in how much we owe you for what You've done for us.
We owe you an unpayable debt for what You've done for us, but you don't even ask us to repay it. All you ever say is, just be mine. Just be mine. Belong to me. Be my son.
Be my daughter. And so, we thank you that we have no burden, no burden of shame, no burden of guilt.
We're just forgiven. We're just clean.

So, Lord, I just pray for anyone here who doesn't experience emotionally that reality. Father, I pray that You would do it by Your spirit even now, that You would lift shame where there are people who know and comprehend the gospel, but the shame is just never lifted, for whatever reason. Would you do that? In Jesus' name?

Would you bring freedom, Lord, and a reminder of the power of Your blood and the power of Your forgiveness that you didn't make us good and then challenge us to hold on to it? You robed us in the righteousness of Jesus, and we stand on that. We find our identity in that. And we cannot lose that, much as we may try sometimes in our stubbornness and our foolishness and our rebelliousness. And yet Your righteousness stands unshakable, unchanged.

So, thank you for doing that for us, God. And I pray that the weight of that would fall upon us, Lord, so that all the petty quarrels we have in our minds of why we shouldn't have to forgive him, why we shouldn't have to forgive her, would fade away in the glorious light of what you have done for us. And we would feel the weight of understanding. There's just no comparison. It's such foolishness to compare what anyone has done to us to what we have done to you

What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............

Are you living in the fear of the Lord? In one of my favorite passages in the Bible, jJsus tells his disciples in Matthew six, and I put it on your outlines. I tell you, don't worry about your life, what you will eat, or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Isn't life more than food and the body more than clothing? Consider the birds of the sky.

They don't sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you worth more than they? Can any of you add one moment to his lifespan by worrying? Why do you worry about clothes? Observe how the wildflowers of the field grow.

They don't labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these. If that's how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won't he do much more for you? You of little faith, so don't worry saying, what will we eat? Or what will we drink?

Or what will we wear? For the Gentiles, the nonbelievers eagerly seek all these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be provided for you. Jesus was giving his disciples the promise that the Church was experiencing in Acts, chapter nine.

It's the promise that if we make our lives all about living for Jesus, our Heavenly Father will provide everything we need. In Matthew 6, Jesus talks about practical, material needs. But the rest of the New Testament will make it clear that God's promise and provision include all of our emotional needs as well. If we live our lives in the fear of the Lord, God will provide the encouragement, the comfort, the strength, the joy, the peace, the boldness that we need. The early Church found it to be true, and I promise it's true for you and me today as well.

So, if you are living for Jesus as your highest priority and you have any emotional need, ask your Heavenly Father to meet it. Ask him, and by the Holy Spirit, the comforter. He will, he will. Make a note of this. Those who live in the fear of the Lord will be encouraged by the Holy Spirit.

Those who live in the fear of the Lord will be encouraged by the Holy Spirit. Lynn asked the worship team to come up and get ready to lead us in just a minute. But I want to wrap up by just asking you a couple of these questions again. Are you living in the fear of the Lord? Is your life oriented around Jesus, or is he a supplement to everything else in your life?

Are you more concerned with pleasing Him than anyone or anything else? If not, repent, change, and do things differently. Do the things you know he's calling you to do. Stop doing the things you know he's calling you to stop doing. If Jesus is not the center of your life, then what I'm about to say is not for you, because he doesn't make this offer to you.

But if Jesus is the center of your life, I want to remind you that he promises to meet your needs, materially and emotionally. And so if there's anything you need, I want to encourage you to stand on that promise tonight. Say, Lord, Lord, I'm experiencing a need in this area, practical or emotional, and just say, Lord, I just need this. Would you please meet that need? He will.

He will. But the thing that just breaks my heart is the thought that anyone would walk in here this evening with a burden, having a deep emotional need. Never ask the Heavenly Father that loves you to meet it and walk out of here with that same need, because you don't need to. You don't need to. Your Heavenly Father loves you so much, man, does he love you.

And he loves to meet the deep needs of our heart. So if you choose to leave tonight without getting that need met. It's not because you don't have a Heavenly Father who loves you. You do it's because you won't ask. And so I urge you to ask.

What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............

And he will do what the Lord had told him to do take the Gospel to the Gentiles and plant churches with Saul. The lightning rod for controversy out of the picture, we read in verses 31 so the church throughout all Judea, Galilee and Samaria had peace and was strengthened. The church was strengthened by hearing what the Lord had done in Saul and seeing it firsthand. And while the persecution hadn't stopped, the intensity of it had stopped without Paul Zeal to spearhead it. The church also benefited from some political reshuffling.

With Pilot being ousted as governor and Herod Agrippa's authority expanding, he restricted and dramatically lessened the power of the Sanhedrin, meaning they didn't have the authority to persecute the church to the same degree as before. This is the first time in the Bible that the church is referred to in the singular, despite it being geographically dispersed across multiple congregations. The teaching of Scripture is there is that there's one church and it's made up of all those who belong to Jesus and follow him as Lord. We'll often refer to this as the "Big C" or "Uppercase C" Church because within the "Big C" Church there are many Little Sea or Lowercase Sea churches. Like Gospel City.

We are a little Sea church that is part of the "Big C" church. And that concludes today's episode of Sesame Street. Then we read Living in the Fear of the Lord. Would you underline this in your Bibles? Living in the fear of the Lord and - also underline- encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.

The original Greek tells us that the believers in the church were choosing to live in fear of the Lord, and because of that, the Holy Spirit was encouraging and comforting them. The idea is that when believers submit themselves to the lordship of Jesus and live their lives honoring Him, rightly. The Holy Spirit provides comfort, encouragement, boldness, whatever is needed. God's Word tells us that fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom because the fear of the Lord puts everything in life in its rightful place. It causes you to see things as they truly are and prioritize things as they should be.

A fear of the Lord gives us an understanding that he is God and we are not afraid of the Lord. Frees one from the fear of man because you are more concerned about offending God than you are about offending man or the culture or the people around you. You're more concerned with God's approval than the approval of the culture. You're more concerned with honoring Jesus than you are with honoring the government. Fear of the Lord causes you to honor Jesus in His Word as the truth, allowing you to see through the lies and deceptions of the day and think clearly.

The fear of the Lord allows you to view your life from the perspective of eternity, emboldening you to serve the Lord, suffer for the Lord, and even, if necessary, die for the Lord. A fear of the Lord helps you to prioritize your life with wisdom, making decisions that will be eternally profitable, rather than just doing whatever brings satisfaction in the moment. And when you have individual believers who are living in the fear of the Lord that form churches, that live in the fear of the Lord, that is led by elders who walk in the fear of the Lord given, god can begin to do some amazing things. But we must ask ourselves the question am I living in the fear of the Lord? Please hear me on this.

I'm not asking you if you love the Lord and think he's great. I'm asking you if you're living in the fear of the Lord. Is what he wants you to do, is how he wants you to spend your life tomorrow and the day after. The single biggest factor in how you make decisions in your life are you more concerned with his approval than anything else's, including your own flesh? Are you more concerned with pleasing Him than yourself?

What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............

He was an encourager. And in this moment he goes to meet and speak with Saul and encourages him in the Lord and vouches for him to Peter and James, the two apostles. Saul tells us in Galatians that he met him in Jerusalem. Apparently, Barnabas had heard from people he knew and trusted that Saul had been preaching the Gospel in Syria and was for real. Saul was coming and going with them in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord.

The brethren in Jerusalem met with Saul and fellowshiped with him. And what I wouldn't have given to listen in on some of those theological conversations. Inevitably, Saul began preaching publicly and debating in synagogues around the city of Jerusalem. We read, he conversed and debated with the Hellenistic Jews, but they tried to kill him. The same thing happened again.

Saul preached the Gospel. The stubborn Hellenistic Jews couldn't refute him, so they went to their standard Plan B of trying to murder him. This was the original cancel culture, it seems. In this, we see another beautiful connection between Saul and the ministry of Stephen, the man who spearheaded the persecution of the Church. Saul was now preaching the Gospel to the same men who had brought Stephen before the Sanhedrin on charges of blasphemy.

It's an astonishing turn of events. The ministry of Stephen to the Hellenistic Jews is taken up, at least temporarily, by the man who contributed to his martyrdom. I think it's more than possible that Saul felt a burden to continue that specific evangelistic work precisely because Stephen had been engaged in it up till the day of his death. If the Hellenistic Jews hated Stephen for preaching the Gospel to them, how much more must they have hated Saul, who preached the same Gospel but was also guilty of betraying them by switching sides? He had once worked with them against believers like Stephen, but now here he was preaching the same Jesus that Stephen had preached now because they had seen this movie before, we read when the brothers found out, they took him down to Caesaria and sent him off to Tarsus.

According to Galatians 11/8, Paul stay in Jerusalem lasted just 15 days. And I suspect it was a bit of a mixed bag because on the one hand, the Church would have been thrilled by what the Lord had done in Saul's life. On the other hand, he begins stirring up trouble for them almost the second that he rolls into town. He had made trouble for the Church in Jerusalem by persecuting them, and now, three years later, he was back to make trouble for the Church by preaching the Gospel. You're going to find this is a pattern with Paul.

He's generally either starting revivals or starting riots. Most of the time, it's one of the two or both. In Acts 22, Paul tells us that the Lord Jesus came to him in a vision and warned him about the plot to assassinate him. Paul wanted to stay and try and lead the Hellenistic Jews to salvation, but the Lord told him specifically they would reject his message. Instead, he was to take the Gospel to the Gentiles.

When Saul shared his vision with the brothers, they told him, you need to obey the Lord and get out of Jerusalem. So the brothers took Saul to the Mediterranean Seaport of Caesarea and sent them off to Tarsus, his hometown in the province of Kilikha, which is located on the southern coast of present-day Turkey. It took persecution by Saul to get the church to take the Gospel beyond Jerusalem, and it took the persecution of Saul to get him out of Jerusalem and back on track with his calling to take the Gospel to the Gentiles. Saul will disappear from the narrative for a few years and the next few chapters of the Book of Acts. During those years, he traveled around the province of Cilicia and the neighboring country of Syria, where he spent three years following his conversion.

What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............

Look at all the people that I've passed that I've swam farther than them why are they a fool? Because it doesn't matter how many people you can swim further. There's no way in the world you're swimming to Hawaii. It's just not going to happen. Congratulations.

You're going to die a little bit further out to zee than them. Way to go. It's still an impossible standard. Not only do we all fall short of God's standard, but we fall short by sinning against Him in egregious blasphemous. Ways.

This is what I mean when I say that he created us and we disowned Him. He made us to know and love Him and be loved by Him, and we rejected Him. He is the God of the universe. And we looked at Him and said, I would be a better God of my life than you, so I will be God over my life rather than you. What possible words could I find to express the gravity of such cosmic treason?

In most countries where the death penalty still exists, treason carries the death penalty. You get that for betraying your country. What should you get for betraying God?

There's no crime that a human being can commit against another human being. That is worse than what each of us has done to God. Quite simply, we cannot compare sinning against another person to sinning against the God who created us. Those sins cannot be compared on any scale. They cannot compare.

But it gets worse, because not only did God forgive us our sins, our impossible debt, but he did so at the cost of the life of Jesus. Jesus received the punishment that we should have received in our place. And what Jesus tells his disciples in this parable is, how do you think my Father in heaven who watched me, his only begotten son, suffer and die so that you could be forgiven? How do you think he feels when you want to accept that forgiveness that I paid for with my body and my blood, but you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters? How do you think my Father feels about that?

And Jesus'point is you don't want to find out. You don't want to find out. You see, the reality is this when we refuse to forgive, it begs the question, do we really understand the gospel? Do we really understand what Jesus has done for us? Do we really understand that we rejected Him after he had done all that for us?

That he would say, hey, I died for you so that you could be forgiven and brought into my family? And we still said in many different ways, yeah, I'd still rather be my own God. I love myself more.

Amen. Because if we do understand the gospel, we will understand why we must forgive it's. Because whatever they've done to me cannot compare to what I have done to God. And whatever I need to forgive them for cannot compare to the debt that I owed God, that he forgave me through the body and blood of Jesus. We don't get to accept the forgiveness of God and withhold forgiveness from others.

Would you write this down? We are commanded to forgive without limits because God has forgiven us without limits. We are commanded to forgive without limits because God has forgiven us without limits. This radical concept flowed from the heart of Stephen, who, as he was being stoned to death, cried out in prayer, lord, do not hold the sin against them. Stephen had already forgiven them for murdering him, even as they were murdering him.

That's the effect the gospel can have on our hearts if we'll embrace the implications of the forgiveness we've received through Jesus. I always feel obligated to say this when we talk about forgiveness. Please know that forgiveness and restoration are two very different things. Forgiveness is how you view them in your mind and in your soul. When you forgive them, you no longer view them as owing you a debt.

You no longer wish ill on them. You pray for their good. You understand that justice was done to Jesus. Restoration is how the relationship is repaired. If it can be, it should be.

This is a list of blog comments created by bcjenny.

We use cookies to ensure that you have the best experience possible on our website. Read Our Privacy Policy Here