WEBVTT 00:00:03.759 --> 00:00:06.559 Welcome to the Enduring Grace Sermons Podcast. 00:00:06.719 --> 00:00:10.160 This is the home for the weekly teaching and ministry of Pastor Ben Hill. 00:00:10.720 --> 00:00:15.119 Our mission is to share the timeless truth of God's Word with the world in need of hope. 00:00:15.359 --> 00:00:21.280 For more resources, articles, and updates, visit us online at enduringgrace.com. 00:00:21.760 --> 00:00:24.480 And now, here is this week's message. 00:00:26.879 --> 00:00:33.520 If you have your Bibles this morning, I would love to encourage you to go ahead and take them and turn to the book of Acts. 00:00:33.600 --> 00:00:40.079 We're going to be in Acts chapter 6 here this morning, here in just a few minutes, but we've got a lot of scripture to cover. 00:00:40.159 --> 00:00:53.600 So I'm going to ask that you buckle up and you listen close because we are covering verses uh chapter 6, verse 8, all the way through chapter 7, verse 60 this morning. 00:00:53.759 --> 00:00:56.880 I promise we'll be out in time for lunch. 00:00:57.359 --> 00:01:00.880 We might not beat everybody, but we'll beat in time for lunch, okay? 00:01:01.119 --> 00:01:03.280 Um, but yesterday was incredible. 00:01:03.439 --> 00:01:06.719 Uh thank you everyone that uh helped make that possible. 00:01:06.879 --> 00:01:10.480 Thank you, Jamie Children's Committee, for planning and putting that together. 00:01:10.640 --> 00:01:12.959 Uh, it was absolutely incredible. 00:01:13.120 --> 00:01:20.239 And as you can see, your pastor is the dumb one that does not put sunscreen on when the sun starts getting brighter. 00:01:20.480 --> 00:01:22.400 And so I am very red this morning. 00:01:22.480 --> 00:01:27.599 It's not because I'm embarrassed or I'm too hot, it's just that I am fried like a tomato. 00:01:27.760 --> 00:01:34.079 Um, and so I learned a valuable lesson yesterday that I will not heed again next time, obviously. 00:01:34.319 --> 00:01:36.319 Because I got like to get sunburned, apparently. 00:01:36.480 --> 00:01:37.120 But that's okay. 00:01:37.200 --> 00:01:39.599 We're gonna have a wonderful time this morning in God's word. 00:01:39.920 --> 00:01:44.239 Hasn't it been awesome to celebrate five baptisms today? 00:01:46.560 --> 00:01:47.920 Absolutely. 00:01:48.879 --> 00:01:54.719 We had four baptisms last week, so we've had nine baptisms in two Sundays. 00:01:54.799 --> 00:01:57.439 It's incredible what God is doing. 00:01:59.760 --> 00:02:03.760 And if you've been on the fence, I would love to baptize you next week. 00:02:03.840 --> 00:02:05.359 So come on down after the service. 00:02:05.439 --> 00:02:06.480 That's all I'm saying. 00:02:06.799 --> 00:02:12.639 Because there is a great movement of God that we're seeing all across America. 00:02:12.879 --> 00:02:15.759 Uh, and we see this in really the younger generation. 00:02:15.919 --> 00:02:26.719 These young men are a great testimony because young men are flocking to the church, and we've seen record Bible cells uh in high, high numbers over the last year. 00:02:26.879 --> 00:02:39.120 Uh, if you follow any of the guys that do the gin uh next gen ministries, they're telling you that they there is a movement of God all across our country in youth, and so we want to pray that that continues. 00:02:39.360 --> 00:02:45.039 Um, we have saw uh young people testifying that they are trusting in Christ this morning. 00:02:45.199 --> 00:02:48.879 We saw young men testifying that they're trusting Christ last week. 00:02:49.039 --> 00:02:58.960 And what we're going to see is that we have another young man in Stephen who is testifying of Jesus in our text this morning. 00:02:59.199 --> 00:03:07.599 If you don't remember, Stephen is one of the seven chosen of the Hellenistic Jews, the Greek-speaking Jews that we saw last week. 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:16.479 He has been selected to serve tables, but we know that he's an able man full of the Holy Spirit, and as a result, people get jealous. 00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:27.840 And what we've seen repeatedly in Scripture is when the Pharisees, Sadducees, and those in charge get jealous, they attack those that they are jealous of, which so often occurs. 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:41.039 And so this morning, what we're going to see in Stephen's life is three lessons that applies to us as believers that we can learn from and replicate through the power of a relationship with Jesus. 00:03:41.199 --> 00:03:47.520 And so I'm going to encourage you, if you found your place in Acts chapter 6, to stand in the honor of reading God's Word. 00:03:47.680 --> 00:03:54.879 We're only going to read verses 8 through 15, and then we will tackle the other text as we come to them. 00:03:55.120 --> 00:04:00.000 And we love to say word here when we find our place in God's Word, because we love God's Word. 00:04:00.080 --> 00:04:01.840 So if you found your place, would you say word? 00:04:02.960 --> 00:04:03.360 Awesome. 00:04:03.439 --> 00:04:05.199 Let's read these verses together. 00:04:05.439 --> 00:04:12.000 It says, starting with verse 8, and Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. 00:04:12.240 --> 00:04:28.079 Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the freedmen, as it was called, and of the Syria Syrians and the Alexandrians, and of those of Cilcia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. 00:04:28.240 --> 00:04:33.360 But they would not withstand the wisdom of the and the spirit with which he was speaking. 00:04:33.680 --> 00:04:40.560 Then they secretly instigated men, who said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God. 00:04:40.959 --> 00:04:56.720 They stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him, and brought him before the council, and they set up false witnesses, who said, This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law. 00:04:57.199 --> 00:05:06.079 For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us. 00:05:06.800 --> 00:05:13.439 And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel. 00:05:13.680 --> 00:05:14.560 Let us pray. 00:05:16.079 --> 00:05:43.680 Lord, I just want to ask that you would speak to our hearts, that you would speak through the your word to change us, to encourage us to faithfulness, Lord, that we would not be led astray, that we would be men of and women of faith like Stephen, that we would reflect his love for you, to the world around us, that we would not be deceived in who you are or what you've called us to, Father. 00:05:44.879 --> 00:05:46.160 May you move in our lives. 00:05:46.240 --> 00:05:47.360 In your name we pray. 00:05:47.680 --> 00:05:48.079 Amen. 00:05:48.399 --> 00:05:49.600 You may be seated. 00:05:50.079 --> 00:05:58.480 This morning, the first thing I want us to see of these three lessons from Stephen's life is that you can shine with his presence. 00:05:58.639 --> 00:06:02.480 Of course, the he or his in this text is Jesus. 00:06:02.720 --> 00:06:06.079 You can shine with Jesus' presence. 00:06:06.560 --> 00:06:08.480 We see this in Stephen's life. 00:06:08.560 --> 00:06:10.959 Look at verse 15 again, if you don't mind. 00:06:11.120 --> 00:06:19.680 It says, And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel. 00:06:19.920 --> 00:06:26.480 Now, I don't know about you, but there are some times when you run into people that they just seem different. 00:06:26.639 --> 00:06:36.000 Have you ever ever had that interaction with someone where you start talking to them and you can just tell there's a little something different about them than most people? 00:06:36.160 --> 00:06:42.560 And as you talk, you find out, oh, they're a Christian and they're irradiating Jesus' love. 00:06:42.720 --> 00:06:56.879 I've had that happen on many occasions over the years, and what I would hope is that you are one of those people also that when people come in contact with you, they're quick to say, there is something a little different about this person. 00:06:57.519 --> 00:07:05.600 Because that is Stephen's testimony here in these first few verses, is that he shone a light that was different. 00:07:05.920 --> 00:07:09.759 He shined like a face of an angel. 00:07:10.160 --> 00:07:22.079 And if you think back to the Old Testament, which we're going to get into a lot of Old Testament here as Stephen begins to speak, is that Moses too shone like an angel. 00:07:22.240 --> 00:07:25.519 He shone radiance of meeting with God. 00:07:25.680 --> 00:07:34.639 And we see this in uh Exodus chapter 34, uh, really playing out on Sinai as Moses would come down from the mountain. 00:07:34.800 --> 00:07:42.000 He would shine so brightly that they had him cover his face because they did not feel comfortable being in front of him. 00:07:42.319 --> 00:07:43.040 Think about that. 00:07:43.199 --> 00:07:49.199 That's what it was like for Moses to meet with God, that he shone so brightly that people were uncomfortable to be around him. 00:07:49.759 --> 00:07:58.480 Here's Stephen being falsely accused, who is radiating the same kind of glory, which is the glory that only comes from God. 00:07:58.720 --> 00:08:04.399 He is reflecting God's love in a way that the other people can't help but see. 00:08:05.120 --> 00:08:07.279 And think about the context in which he is in. 00:08:07.439 --> 00:08:15.839 He's in a very dark place of a group of men who hate Jesus, who want to snuff out the very light of Christ. 00:08:16.240 --> 00:08:20.240 And do you know what is so powerful about darkness? 00:08:20.639 --> 00:08:23.759 When you turn a light on, it goes away very quickly. 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:26.000 It reveals all that's there. 00:08:26.319 --> 00:08:31.759 My kids uh love aquatic animals, and I grew up loving aquatic animals. 00:08:31.839 --> 00:08:49.279 Uh, we took Archer for his birthday to the aquarium down in Charleston, and so as we're sitting here looking at all these animals, that one of the coolest things I think about that Charleston aquarium is it's got the deepest uh uh American United States aquarium in the whole United States. 00:08:49.440 --> 00:08:52.000 Like it's the deepest actual aquarium. 00:08:52.240 --> 00:09:04.480 And so it it just spurred my mind to think about the very deep, very deep, we're talking three to thirteen thousand uh feet underwater animals. 00:09:04.559 --> 00:09:19.600 And one of the crazy things about the animals down there is not only do they withstand the incredible pressure of the water that's all around them, they also, many of them, most of them, have the ability to use bioluminescence. 00:09:19.840 --> 00:09:21.679 One of these is the anglerfish. 00:09:21.840 --> 00:09:24.399 If you're familiar with the anglerfish, they're quite ugly. 00:09:24.480 --> 00:09:40.480 You might remember it, kids, from finding Nemo when uh uh Nemo or sorry, uh when Dory and all of them are down deep in the water and they're trying to figure out where they're going, and they see this nice glowing light, and you might remember Dory going up and going, ooh, pretty light. 00:09:40.639 --> 00:09:42.240 Yeah, that's bioluminescence. 00:09:42.320 --> 00:09:48.480 And that anglerfish is using it for a purpose to draw that fish in so that it can eat Dory. 00:09:48.879 --> 00:09:50.799 That's not a good thing, right? 00:09:50.960 --> 00:09:51.759 Not for Dory. 00:09:52.080 --> 00:10:00.399 But here's the thing is that we are to shine the light of Christ for a purpose, not to eat people, thank God, right? 00:10:00.799 --> 00:10:12.559 But to instead invite people to know the one true God who loves them, to show them the way of hope, the way of radiance. 00:10:13.120 --> 00:10:15.120 Stephen is doing that with his life. 00:10:15.279 --> 00:10:24.720 He is reflecting the truth of God to a people who are in a dark, sick and dying world, just like we are. 00:10:24.960 --> 00:10:28.000 We're in a dark, sick and dying world. 00:10:28.240 --> 00:10:37.200 But here's the thing about Stephen is that the reason why they'd want him on trial, that they're lying about him, is because of verse 10. 00:10:37.360 --> 00:10:42.080 It says, But they could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he was speaking. 00:10:42.240 --> 00:10:44.879 In other words, they couldn't beat him in an argument. 00:10:45.200 --> 00:10:50.799 They couldn't justify their own actions because his wisdom exceeded their own. 00:10:51.279 --> 00:10:55.360 Because they knew he knew God's word, as we're going to see here in just a moment. 00:10:55.600 --> 00:11:06.799 He understood who God was, he understood God's purpose, and he understood that he was called to testify of the goodness of God just like we are. 00:11:07.279 --> 00:11:09.679 You gotta remember, Stephen is not an apostle. 00:11:10.320 --> 00:11:19.840 Stephen is a called, set apart man of God who was identified for his faithfulness, for his wisdom, that he was full of the Spirit. 00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:24.559 He was a lay person in the church just like you. 00:11:26.320 --> 00:11:28.960 This is the Stephen that we're studying this morning. 00:11:29.120 --> 00:11:35.519 The faithfulness of a man who had met with Jesus and follows Jesus. 00:11:35.919 --> 00:11:42.639 And so what we see is that you can shine with his presence when you have a relationship with Jesus. 00:11:42.799 --> 00:11:53.039 And that relationship with Jesus allows you to withstand the pressures of the outside world, it allows you to be able to withstand false accusations like Stephen. 00:11:53.519 --> 00:12:01.279 And it allows you to be a testimony to the world around you as you testify of the truth of who God is. 00:12:01.919 --> 00:12:19.600 So not only do we see in our text that we can shine with his presence, secondly, as we look at the verses one through fifty-three in chapter seven, is that you and I can speak with his power, with Jesus' power when we have that relationship with Jesus. 00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:24.559 Look at verse one through sixteen. 00:12:25.440 --> 00:12:29.120 Says, and the high priest said, Are these things so? 00:12:29.440 --> 00:12:40.480 So the accusation is that he is saying that uh basically blasphemy Moses, saying that Moses is going to be done away with, that his law is no good, that this temple is no good. 00:12:40.720 --> 00:12:45.519 So therefore you are going to have everything destroyed. 00:12:45.600 --> 00:12:48.879 Uh and so he asked, Is this these things true? 00:12:49.200 --> 00:12:51.039 This is Stephen's response. 00:12:51.360 --> 00:12:52.320 Verse 2. 00:12:52.559 --> 00:12:55.360 And Stephen said, Brothers and fathers, hear me. 00:12:55.519 --> 00:13:09.919 The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him, Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you. 00:13:10.159 --> 00:13:14.559 Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. 00:13:14.720 --> 00:13:22.080 And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living. 00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:33.519 Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot's length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child. 00:13:33.679 --> 00:13:44.320 And God spoke to this effect that his offspring would be sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and inflict them four hundred years. 00:13:44.720 --> 00:13:51.919 But I will judge the nation that they serve, said God, and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place. 00:13:52.159 --> 00:14:04.000 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision, and so Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs. 00:14:04.159 --> 00:14:20.960 And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt, but God was with him, and rescued him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all of his household. 00:14:21.200 --> 00:14:27.519 Now there came a famine through all Egypt and Canaan and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food. 00:14:27.759 --> 00:14:33.360 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our father on their first visit. 00:14:33.759 --> 00:14:41.360 And on the second visit, Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh. 00:14:41.519 --> 00:14:47.279 And Joseph sent and summoned Jacob, his father, and all his kindred, seventy-five persons in all. 00:14:47.440 --> 00:14:52.720 And Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, he and our fathers. 00:14:52.960 --> 00:15:04.879 And they were carried back to Shechem and laid in a tomb in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamar, or Homer, in Shechem. 00:15:05.279 --> 00:15:06.720 And so we'll stop right there. 00:15:06.879 --> 00:15:11.120 So what we see is that he then begins a history lesson of sorts. 00:15:11.360 --> 00:15:14.879 Stephen goes, Okay, my accusation is I'm speaking falsely. 00:15:15.039 --> 00:15:17.519 I'm going to take you through a journey. 00:15:17.919 --> 00:15:29.440 He starts with Abraham, and as we will see, he keeps going because he is going to talk about four specific covenant moments in the history of the Jews. 00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:31.279 First with Abraham. 00:15:31.360 --> 00:15:33.279 We call it the Abrahamic covenant. 00:15:33.440 --> 00:15:53.279 And what we see is that God called Abraham out of Ur, and it led to ultimately Joseph and the people of Israel, the Hebrew men of Abraham's descent, inside of Egypt, where they would be in captivity for 400 years. 00:15:53.840 --> 00:16:05.039 This covenant is one that is interesting to me personally, simply because Abraham has promised something that he does not receive in full, but his descendants do. 00:16:05.519 --> 00:16:07.840 It's one that's further along. 00:16:08.159 --> 00:16:23.440 But also in this text, what we see is that also, while we have the Abrahamic covenant between God and a person, we also see that you have Abraham's obedience, that God was with Abraham outside of the promised land. 00:16:23.679 --> 00:16:32.000 So Stephen is sitting here arguing, saying, hey, look, it was not God with Abraham in Ur when he first started meeting with him. 00:16:32.240 --> 00:16:37.200 But not only was he there, he was also with him as a nomad as he traveled. 00:16:37.519 --> 00:16:39.840 God continued to be with Abraham. 00:16:40.080 --> 00:16:46.000 So there's a relationship that Abraham had with God even though he wasn't in this temple. 00:16:47.039 --> 00:16:59.200 But also he reveals that there is one in the patriarchic line, the patriarch line in Joseph that was rejected by his peers. 00:17:00.320 --> 00:17:01.919 Just like Jesus was. 00:17:41.519 --> 00:17:44.000 Church is not a place, it's a people. 00:17:44.799 --> 00:17:47.599 And it's a people that have a relationship with Jesus. 00:17:47.920 --> 00:17:51.920 That means that we have the Lord with us everywhere we go. 00:17:52.319 --> 00:18:10.799 And that's the whole point that Stephen's making as he outlines the rest of these texts is that Jesus, God, is with his people when they have a relationship with him, and it doesn't matter where they are, it doesn't matter where they're gathered, it is the church who gathers together for the purpose of worshiping the Lord. 00:18:11.119 --> 00:18:18.319 We gather together for encouragement, for equipping, so that we can go and be the church with Jesus outside these walls. 00:18:19.279 --> 00:18:25.599 But not only do we see that, next he introduces us to the cyanadic covenant in Moses. 00:18:25.920 --> 00:18:30.160 Look at the next set of verses in verses 17 through 43. 00:18:31.759 --> 00:18:32.319 17. 00:18:32.720 --> 00:18:44.079 But at but as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt, until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph. 00:18:44.240 --> 00:18:55.039 He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their to expose their infants, so that they would not be kept alive. 00:18:55.440 --> 00:19:10.480 At this time Moses was born, and he was beautiful in God's sight, and he was brought up for three months in his father's house, and when he was exposed, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. 00:19:10.640 --> 00:19:19.599 Notice that he's already said Moses was beautiful in God's eyes, and that God has now preserved his life by allowing Pharaoh's daughter to adopt him when he should have been killed. 00:19:19.839 --> 00:19:26.240 Verse 22 And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds. 00:19:26.400 --> 00:19:33.200 When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. 00:19:33.440 --> 00:19:41.200 And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. 00:19:41.759 --> 00:19:48.240 He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand. 00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:50.319 But they did not understand. 00:19:50.640 --> 00:20:01.279 Notice Moses was trying to help his brothers, not harm them, trying to give them freedom, not trying to enslave them. 00:20:01.759 --> 00:20:03.519 And yet, look at verse 26. 00:20:03.680 --> 00:20:10.319 And on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, Men, you are brothers. 00:20:10.480 --> 00:20:12.000 Why do you wrong each other? 00:20:12.400 --> 00:20:20.400 But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 00:20:21.519 --> 00:20:27.839 Has that ever happened to you where someone you were trying to help just really just got in your face about it? 00:20:28.400 --> 00:20:29.680 It can happen. 00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:36.720 And here, Moses is being pushed aside by another man who he's trying to help yet again. 00:20:37.039 --> 00:20:40.319 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptians yesterday? 00:20:40.559 --> 00:20:47.279 At this retort, Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons. 00:20:47.519 --> 00:20:55.039 Now, when forty years had passed, hey guys, just FYI, Moses is 80 years old when this is taking place. 00:20:55.200 --> 00:20:57.759 So if you're under 80, guess what? 00:20:57.920 --> 00:20:58.880 You're definitely not done. 00:20:58.960 --> 00:21:01.759 If you're in your 80s, Moses did a whole lot after this point. 00:21:01.839 --> 00:21:03.519 So you're not done either, right? 00:21:03.759 --> 00:21:06.000 Encouragement for our older folks. 00:21:06.240 --> 00:21:07.279 Remain faithful. 00:21:07.440 --> 00:21:14.319 Now, when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai in the flame of fire in a bush. 00:21:14.720 --> 00:21:18.079 When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight. 00:21:18.240 --> 00:21:21.839 And as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord. 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:29.680 I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, and Moses trembled and did not dare to look. 00:21:29.839 --> 00:21:35.200 You notice Stephen is drawing out that the presence of God took form in a bush. 00:21:37.039 --> 00:21:44.000 In a wilderness, nowhere close to where the temple is at the moment. 00:21:44.319 --> 00:21:47.920 He's saying God met with Moses on a mountaintop. 00:21:48.720 --> 00:21:52.480 He met Moses in the wilderness in a burning bush. 00:21:54.720 --> 00:21:59.759 I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac, and of Jacob and Moses. 00:22:01.359 --> 00:22:06.480 Trembled, and Moses trembled and did not dare to look. 00:22:06.960 --> 00:22:09.440 He had the fear of the Lord upon him. 00:22:09.680 --> 00:22:14.960 Then the Lord said to him, Take off the sandals from your feet, for this place where you are standing is holy ground. 00:22:15.119 --> 00:22:24.240 I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them, and now come, I will send you to Egypt. 00:22:24.480 --> 00:22:29.359 This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, Who made you a ruler and a judge? 00:22:29.519 --> 00:22:35.279 This man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 00:22:35.359 --> 00:22:40.000 He says, Once again, Moses was rejected by his own people at the time. 00:22:40.319 --> 00:22:51.519 Forty years later, God is sending him back as the redeemer and the freeing man, the man who's going to help lead the people of God, the Israelites, out of Egypt. 00:22:52.160 --> 00:22:54.480 God was not done using Moses. 00:22:55.680 --> 00:23:02.480 Moses is a man who is going to have influence over Israel. 00:23:02.960 --> 00:23:04.559 Look at verse 36. 00:23:04.799 --> 00:23:12.559 This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for 40 years. 00:23:12.720 --> 00:23:19.519 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. 00:23:19.680 --> 00:23:27.759 Remember, he is quoting Moses for the purpose of reminding them that there was someone coming like Moses, that Moses himself prophesied. 00:23:27.920 --> 00:23:36.720 The one that you're saying, I'm blaspheming, I'm telling you, I'm using as a source for telling you that this Jesus is the man that Moses was talking about. 00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:39.119 Verse 38. 00:23:39.279 --> 00:23:46.079 This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai and with our fathers. 00:23:46.319 --> 00:23:49.039 He received living oracles to give to us. 00:23:49.200 --> 00:23:54.960 Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt. 00:23:55.119 --> 00:24:04.799 Remember, the people of God, the Israelites, rejected Moses and went right back to the idolatry in the wilderness at Mount Sinai. 00:24:04.960 --> 00:24:10.400 While Moses was meeting with God, the people of God were worshiping idols. 00:24:13.440 --> 00:24:15.599 He was still rejected. 00:24:15.680 --> 00:24:28.319 Even though he is one of the greats that they were looking up to, he's reminding them that even in that moment the people of God were resisting Moses and the truth that he was bringing to them. 00:24:29.839 --> 00:24:34.079 Verse 40, saying to Aaron, make for us gods who will go before us. 00:24:34.240 --> 00:24:39.599 As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. 00:24:39.839 --> 00:24:47.440 And they made a calf in those days and offered sacrifices or sacrifice to the idol, and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. 00:24:47.519 --> 00:24:52.880 But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven. 00:24:53.039 --> 00:25:02.160 As it is written in the book of the prophets, did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? 00:25:02.400 --> 00:25:15.680 You took up the tent of Mo Maloch and the star of your God Raphan, the images that you made to worship, and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon. 00:25:16.319 --> 00:25:25.680 Our fathers had the tent of witnesses in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen. 00:25:25.920 --> 00:25:34.720 Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispose or when they disposed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. 00:25:34.880 --> 00:25:43.359 So it was until the days of David, who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. 00:25:43.519 --> 00:25:53.279 So he outlines that God was with our people through and in Moses in the wilderness, not in a specific place. 00:25:53.599 --> 00:26:03.920 While we had a place we worshiped God, God spoke to Moses intentionally in a special place on Mount Sinai where he met with God. 00:26:04.160 --> 00:26:09.680 That this relationship with God is not limited to a specific place. 00:26:09.839 --> 00:26:14.000 He spoke to Moses in Egypt and to Median and also Sinai. 00:26:15.039 --> 00:26:21.359 And ultimately, Moses served as the rejected servant in much of his ministry. 00:26:21.599 --> 00:26:29.759 As Israel, the Israelites rejected over and over God and disobeyed God and got them stuck in the wilderness for 40 years. 00:26:29.839 --> 00:26:34.799 And even when they got into the promised land, they still didn't follow all of God's instructions to the T. 00:26:35.920 --> 00:26:38.960 There was rebellion that kept rising up. 00:26:40.559 --> 00:26:48.400 But then there's also the Davidic covenant that we see that starts unfolding in verse 46. 00:26:49.200 --> 00:27:03.519 He says that is that David, finding favor in the sight of the Lord, asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob, but it was Solomon who built a house for him. 00:27:05.119 --> 00:27:10.480 Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hand, as the prophet says. 00:27:10.640 --> 00:27:11.519 Notice what he says. 00:27:11.599 --> 00:27:18.240 He says, Even though the temple was built, our God does not dwell in a house. 00:27:18.480 --> 00:27:24.880 He says, the prophet says, Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. 00:27:25.119 --> 00:27:28.160 What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord? 00:27:28.240 --> 00:27:31.039 Or what is the place of my rest? 00:27:32.480 --> 00:27:45.200 God reminds all of us through the prophet's words that he reigns sovereign over all things, that there is no place that can contain God, because God is omnipresent. 00:27:45.519 --> 00:27:47.759 He is everywhere at all times. 00:27:48.000 --> 00:27:50.799 He is beside you when you're doing bad. 00:27:51.119 --> 00:27:53.359 He's beside you when you're doing good. 00:27:53.680 --> 00:27:55.759 He's beside you when you are crying. 00:27:55.920 --> 00:27:59.359 He's beside you and with you when you're glad. 00:28:00.640 --> 00:28:05.200 But our God is sovereign in all things. 00:28:06.799 --> 00:28:08.000 Verse 50. 00:28:08.480 --> 00:28:12.720 Did not my hand make all these things? 00:28:13.920 --> 00:28:16.240 God reminds us that he made it all. 00:28:17.119 --> 00:28:26.319 And so what we see in the Davidic covenant is that God's presence, while it is in Solomon's temple, it is so much more than that. 00:28:26.480 --> 00:28:29.359 It is encompassing the entire world. 00:28:29.519 --> 00:28:37.759 There is nothing that God does not see or does not know because he is in all places. 00:28:38.319 --> 00:28:49.599 And yet, also what we see ultimately is that these prophets are rejected by the people of God. 00:28:50.160 --> 00:28:53.119 Remember, Israel went back to idol worship. 00:28:53.920 --> 00:29:04.480 Even though they had a temple, they fled to idols, the Asheras, the Baals, and they worshiped the false idols yet again. 00:29:04.720 --> 00:29:08.079 In fact, that's the reason why they got thrown into captivity. 00:29:08.319 --> 00:29:13.839 Babylon came in and defeated them, was because they had rejected God. 00:29:26.880 --> 00:29:34.559 And as a result, the prophets testified of the goodness of God, but they were rejected. 00:29:35.920 --> 00:29:47.759 And then what we see is that Stephen introduces them to the new covenant, the covenant between God and those who trust in Christ for salvation. 00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:50.079 Look at verses 51 through 53. 00:29:50.160 --> 00:29:51.759 It says, You stiff-necked people. 00:29:51.920 --> 00:29:59.440 Now let's stop right there, real quick, because we all know some stiff-necked people, but we might not understand what he's talking about to the fullest extent. 00:29:59.759 --> 00:30:09.599 This actually comes from language that they would use talking about oxes that would not, would not cooperate when they put the yoke on. 00:30:09.759 --> 00:30:16.400 In fact, they would resist the yoke and they would stiffen up, they would be stiff-necked, and they would be stubborn. 00:30:16.559 --> 00:30:17.519 They wouldn't do anything. 00:30:17.599 --> 00:30:20.400 They were useless for farming. 00:30:20.640 --> 00:30:24.640 And let me tell you, an ox that is useless for farming is a useless ox. 00:30:24.799 --> 00:30:26.799 You can't do anything with it. 00:30:27.119 --> 00:30:33.039 So what he's saying is, you stiff-necked people, you ox that are stiff that resist the yoke of God. 00:30:33.680 --> 00:30:35.440 Listen to what he says. 00:30:36.960 --> 00:30:42.160 Uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. 00:30:42.319 --> 00:30:44.160 As your fathers did, so do you. 00:30:44.319 --> 00:30:45.279 He says, you know what? 00:30:45.359 --> 00:30:47.279 I just gave you a bunch of examples. 00:30:47.440 --> 00:30:50.640 You're always the negative person in these examples. 00:30:51.039 --> 00:31:02.960 Whether it was Joseph's brothers, or whether it's the prophets or the people that rejected the prophets, you are resisting Jesus. 00:31:03.359 --> 00:31:07.599 You're a stiff-necked people, the people who resist the Lord. 00:31:08.079 --> 00:31:11.359 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? 00:31:11.599 --> 00:31:15.599 He says, hey, which of the prophets did not have trouble from your fathers? 00:31:15.920 --> 00:31:19.119 They all had problems from your fathers. 00:31:20.240 --> 00:31:28.319 But not only that, he says, and they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the righteous one whom you have now betrayed and murdered. 00:31:28.480 --> 00:31:31.519 He says, Those prophets that you say you know so well, guess what? 00:31:31.680 --> 00:31:34.799 You talk about them, but you kill the man they talked about. 00:31:35.119 --> 00:31:36.000 Jesus. 00:31:37.759 --> 00:31:40.000 You don't listen to the prophet yourself. 00:31:40.160 --> 00:31:42.319 It's not just your fathers that didn't listen. 00:31:42.559 --> 00:31:44.079 You're not listening. 00:31:44.559 --> 00:31:47.039 He's pleading with them, essentially. 00:31:50.880 --> 00:31:52.160 Verse 53. 00:31:53.440 --> 00:31:58.240 You who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it. 00:31:58.480 --> 00:32:03.200 He says, you have the very law and yet you can't keep it. 00:32:03.599 --> 00:32:06.319 You have the truth and you do not follow it. 00:32:06.880 --> 00:32:10.799 Because you do not accept Jesus. 00:32:14.640 --> 00:32:21.519 The whole purpose of his testimony here, we see his wisdom. 00:32:22.400 --> 00:32:30.880 We see that he loved God, loved his word enough to understand it so that he could tell the people the right way to believe and understand it. 00:32:31.039 --> 00:32:34.480 The Holy Spirit was guiding his steps all along the way. 00:32:35.359 --> 00:32:41.440 Because he had met with God and became a follower of Jesus and he loved the Lord. 00:32:42.640 --> 00:32:47.279 He was able to stand his ground in the face of opposition. 00:32:49.519 --> 00:33:02.880 You and I have been called to not resist what God is doing, but to come alongside God and follow him and pursue him fully alongside him, not saying, I haven't done it that way before. 00:33:03.039 --> 00:33:04.799 I don't want to do it that way. 00:33:05.279 --> 00:33:06.319 Well, guess what? 00:33:06.559 --> 00:33:10.160 Companies that don't do it, don't adapt, they die. 00:33:10.400 --> 00:33:12.319 Look no further than Kodak. 00:33:13.359 --> 00:33:18.640 Now you might not remember Kodak, some of you young people in the room, because you're probably thinking, what is that? 00:33:18.880 --> 00:33:22.160 It was a company that specialized in photography. 00:33:22.319 --> 00:33:31.119 In fact, they were in the chemical business, they were in the Lightroom business where you would actually mix the chemicals with the film so that you could uh get them developed in that room. 00:33:31.279 --> 00:33:36.400 In fact, my dad used to do all that with printing, and all the stuff came from Kodak. 00:33:37.119 --> 00:33:38.880 They were very popular. 00:33:39.279 --> 00:33:48.799 But what many people might not know is that actually a man at Kodak named Sanson, he developed the first digital camera. 00:33:49.119 --> 00:33:55.759 It was like a toaster with a little lens, and it shot like 0.001 megapixels. 00:33:56.000 --> 00:33:58.880 That's absolutely awful, but it was a first. 00:33:59.279 --> 00:34:01.440 And you know what happened with that company? 00:34:01.759 --> 00:34:04.960 That company said, that's a threat to our business model. 00:34:05.119 --> 00:34:06.640 We're not going to pursue it. 00:34:06.799 --> 00:34:09.920 They had the patent for it, but they didn't pursue it. 00:34:10.559 --> 00:34:12.960 That was in 1975. 00:34:14.079 --> 00:34:20.159 In 2012, they filed bankruptcy because they never adapted. 00:34:22.960 --> 00:34:28.320 Churches that do not adapt in how they reach people die. 00:34:30.239 --> 00:34:32.400 Look no further than England. 00:34:35.679 --> 00:34:44.639 We cannot be a church that is not willing to do whatever it takes to reach some for the glory of the Lord like Paul did, like the early church did. 00:34:45.039 --> 00:34:47.679 Doesn't mean we ever compromise on truth. 00:34:48.000 --> 00:34:55.440 But what it means is that we get strategic and we go to where people are and we minister to those people. 00:34:55.679 --> 00:34:59.519 That's the whole reason why we have a focus on one more this year. 00:35:00.159 --> 00:35:06.159 Because every single one of us has influence over at least one person that doesn't know Jesus. 00:35:06.480 --> 00:35:14.719 And we want to share Jesus with them because there is no greater hope than Jesus, as we see with Stephen's sacrifice. 00:35:14.880 --> 00:35:27.119 So not only do we see that in the life of Stephen, that we see him speak with the power that God has given him, and that he shined with the presence of Jesus. 00:35:27.360 --> 00:35:32.400 Lastly, what we see is that we are called to surrender to his purpose. 00:35:32.719 --> 00:35:36.320 Very quickly, let's look at verses 54 through 60. 00:35:36.559 --> 00:35:41.280 It says, Now when they heard these things, they were enraged and they ground their teeth at him. 00:35:41.599 --> 00:35:56.480 But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and he said, Behold, I see the heavens open, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. 00:35:56.800 --> 00:36:03.199 But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. 00:36:03.519 --> 00:36:06.880 Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. 00:36:07.199 --> 00:36:12.400 And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 00:36:13.119 --> 00:36:19.920 And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, listen to Stephen's word, says he's dying. 00:36:20.239 --> 00:36:25.119 Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 00:36:25.679 --> 00:36:35.360 And falling to his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. 00:36:36.320 --> 00:36:40.960 And when he had said this, he fell asleep. 00:36:44.480 --> 00:36:50.000 Stephen's own death is reflective of Jesus' death on the cross. 00:36:51.599 --> 00:37:04.400 That he was willing to pray that God not hold this sin against them because they were deaf people and incapable of understanding what they were doing because they were blinded by their own hate. 00:37:11.360 --> 00:37:19.199 Stephen was totally surrendered to the purpose of giving God glory with his life, no matter the cost. 00:37:21.039 --> 00:37:24.159 He didn't care if it meant that he had to die. 00:37:24.320 --> 00:37:29.920 He was going to stand with Jesus because Jesus is better than any other route. 00:37:35.679 --> 00:37:46.320 We have a modern day version of this a few years back, back in 2019, there was a very tense courtroom case in Dallas, Texas. 00:37:47.199 --> 00:37:51.280 And it was between different races, even. 00:37:51.360 --> 00:37:56.400 And Brand Jean stood before a lady named Amber Geiger. 00:37:57.119 --> 00:38:03.760 Geiger, the former police officer who had been convicted of taking his brother's life. 00:38:05.519 --> 00:38:10.719 In that moment, the judge is about to give the verdict. 00:38:11.440 --> 00:38:12.800 Sat on the bench. 00:38:13.119 --> 00:38:17.840 Brandt was given the floor for just a moment. 00:38:19.679 --> 00:38:23.760 And what he did was he didn't call for retaliation. 00:38:23.920 --> 00:38:29.119 He didn't call for someone to uh be punished even further. 00:38:29.360 --> 00:38:32.880 Instead, he took his moment to simply say these words. 00:38:34.159 --> 00:38:38.800 I love you as a person, and I don't wish anything bad on you. 00:38:40.239 --> 00:38:42.079 I personally forgive you. 00:38:42.480 --> 00:38:47.280 And I know if you go to God and ask him, he'll forgive you. 00:38:49.519 --> 00:39:04.320 To everyone's surprise, what ended up happening is after that, the judge was so moved after after all of it, she ended up giving a Bible and encouraging that person to go to John 3.16 after the courtroom case. 00:39:08.960 --> 00:39:21.199 Oftentimes we allow our own rage and anger to get in the way of what God really wants us to do, and that is to demonstrate, even in the hardest of situations, to have forgiveness. 00:39:28.960 --> 00:39:33.119 He was reflecting Christ because he was walking with Jesus. 00:39:34.480 --> 00:39:39.440 Are you reflecting Jesus with surrender today, church? 00:39:41.440 --> 00:39:49.760 In order to do that, we must first surrender our entire life to Jesus. 00:39:50.000 --> 00:40:01.039 As we saw the testimony of so many this morning of these five people, they have said yes to surrendering all and trusting Christ alone for their salvation. 00:40:01.280 --> 00:40:04.639 Stephen trusted Christ alone for his salvation. 00:40:04.960 --> 00:40:09.039 Have you trusted Christ alone for your salvation? 00:40:09.199 --> 00:40:09.840 It's simple. 00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:12.800 You just cry out and say, Lord, I know I'm a sinner. 00:40:13.199 --> 00:40:14.800 I know I've broken your law. 00:40:14.960 --> 00:40:15.840 I know I've lied. 00:40:16.000 --> 00:40:16.800 I know I've cheated. 00:40:17.039 --> 00:40:20.800 I know that I am not a good person all the time. 00:40:22.559 --> 00:40:27.599 I know I'm a broken person in need of someone to fix me. 00:40:28.800 --> 00:40:29.920 Save me, Lord. 00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:37.840 I'm trusting in the work of Jesus that he died on the cross and he rose from the grave for my sins to be forgiven. 00:40:38.639 --> 00:40:42.400 You cry out to him, God's word says, He will save. 00:40:43.519 --> 00:40:45.679 Will you do that this morning? 00:40:46.559 --> 00:40:49.039 For those that have surrendered all. 00:40:51.039 --> 00:40:52.800 How's your walk? 00:40:54.400 --> 00:40:58.880 When people meet you in the streets, do they see Jesus quickly? 00:40:59.360 --> 00:41:03.760 Or do they just see another person just like them walking by? 00:41:04.880 --> 00:41:07.280 With every head bowed and eye closed this morning.