SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Sermons from the Way Church KC, a community of listeners and saints in Kansas City, following the way of Jesus and pushing back darkness together.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, good morning, everybody.
SPEAKER_00: How are we doing?
SPEAKER_00: Hope we're doing good.
SPEAKER_00: Um, my name is Madeline, and I am going to be reading Acts 7, I think it's 54 through 8 verse 3.
SPEAKER_00: Um, I wasn't 100% briefed.
SPEAKER_00: I kind of forgot.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm pretty sure those are the right verses.
SPEAKER_00: 54 through 83, right?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, great.
SPEAKER_00: I got it right.
SPEAKER_00: Yay! So if everybody wants to stand with me for the reading of the word, I'm gonna go ahead and read it really quick.
SPEAKER_00: Um So now when they heard these things, they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.
SPEAKER_00: But they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and rushed together at him.
SPEAKER_00: Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him, and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.
SPEAKER_00: And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And falling to his knees, he cried out in a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against them.
SPEAKER_00: And when he had said this, he fell asleep, and Saul approved of his execution.
SPEAKER_00: And then there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
SPEAKER_00: Devout men burned Stephen and made great lamentation over him.
SPEAKER_00: But Saul was ravaging the church and entering house after house.
SPEAKER_00: He dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.
SPEAKER_00: This is the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: You may be seated.
SPEAKER_02: Amen, amen.
SPEAKER_02: Well, thank you for reading the scripture, Madeline.
SPEAKER_02: Uh welcome everyone to the Way Church KC.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, if we haven't gotten the chance to meet yet, my name is Zach.
SPEAKER_02: Um uh the lead pastor here at the Way Church.
SPEAKER_02: And we exist to follow the way of Jesus and push back darkness together.
SPEAKER_02: That's the mission that God has been hand uh leading our young church plant on for the past year and a half.
SPEAKER_02: So we are a new church in this city in the neighborhood of Rosedale, and just uh grateful for the journey.
SPEAKER_02: Um if if this is your first time here, welcome.
SPEAKER_02: We're glad you're here.
SPEAKER_02: Um what I truly believe is that the reason people come to this church isn't for the worship, although Ashton is an anointed worship leader and Zach is an amazing singer as well.
SPEAKER_02: Um I don't believe that people are coming to this church for um the the sermons necessarily, although we're going to faithfully preach the word of God.
SPEAKER_02: What I what I truly believe in my heart of hearts is like the reason people uh choose to be a part of this church family is because of that, because of the family that God's building here, um, because of the men and women who um are walking together through life's trials, through the tough times of life, um, celebrating together through through those mountaintop moments and and just walking together through all the in-betweens.
SPEAKER_02: Like, that's really what I've found and um what my hope is for this church.
SPEAKER_02: And with with that, I just like this this past week just have been incredibly burdened um by the just difficult life stuff that people are walking through.
SPEAKER_02: Um unbearing, uh unbelievable loss.
SPEAKER_02: Um you know, that's uh sickness, um, family members um being sick, addiction, things like that.
SPEAKER_02: And that's I think all the more why we need this church family, um, and all the more why we need uh the living God in our lives.
SPEAKER_02: Um that's my complete sidebar.
SPEAKER_02: Um with that, we'll dig in.
SPEAKER_02: We um as a church have been walking through the book of Acts.
SPEAKER_02: Our sermon series is entitled Living by the Spirit and Following the Way, as we walk verse by verse through the book of Acts.
SPEAKER_02: And um, just as a kind of refresher, the entirety of the first seven chapters of Acts have been centered on Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_02: They've been centered on the birth of the early church in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_02: And if you remember last week, uh we looked at Stephen's sermon in front of the Sanhedrin, in front of the religious leaders, and it's in that text where he he is pointing to so many narratives from the Old Testament and how they all point to Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: Um, so that's kind of what we're on the heels of as we look at Acts 7, 54 through 8.3.
SPEAKER_02: So we're seeing what kind of happens to Stephen right after that.
SPEAKER_02: Have you ever wondered what your faith would look like in the face of real danger?
SPEAKER_02: Have you ever wondered what your faith would look like in the face of real persecution?
SPEAKER_02: When your back is against the wall and the stones are in their hands, what do you see?
SPEAKER_02: Well, Stephen, the first Christian martyr, he gives us a window into what that looks like for him, into the kind of faith that does not flinch.
SPEAKER_02: A faith that is so fixed on Jesus Christ that even death becomes a doorway for him.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know about you guys, but from my perspective, where I'm standing, I think that we live in a world increasingly hostile to the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: Um you hear about the murders of Christians in Nigeria, the persecution in China, you know, and I think across the world there's really tough stuff happening to Christians.
SPEAKER_02: I think here in America, here in Kansas City, while we may not face stoning, we can face rejection, we can face ridicule, we can't face loss of relationships, there's cultural pressure to not stand firm in our faith.
SPEAKER_02: So the question for us this morning is what will keep us standing?
SPEAKER_02: I think that we can look to Stephen through this.
SPEAKER_02: Like we can look to Stephen as a model for how we're to stand in the face of persecution.
SPEAKER_02: What I think we see is like Stephen's death, it's not marked by God being distant from him, but it's marked by divine presence.
SPEAKER_02: That's what we'll see in today's text.
SPEAKER_02: There's so much Trinitarian language.
SPEAKER_02: You see, the Spirit fills Stephen in this text.
SPEAKER_02: You see, the Son of Man stands for him, and the Father's glory is revealed to him.
SPEAKER_02: The triune God surrounds Stephen.
SPEAKER_02: What I hope that we see today is that for those who are in Christ Jesus, the triune God stands for you too.
SPEAKER_02: We're kind of at a turning point in the book of Acts.
SPEAKER_02: Stephen's vision, it closes this Jerusalem-centered narrative.
SPEAKER_02: His death is the hinge on which Acts turns.
SPEAKER_02: From temple to mission, from local worship to global witness.
SPEAKER_02: Here's our big idea this morning.
SPEAKER_02: It's this faith in Christ gives us the courage to stand firm and to forgive, even in the worst circumstances possible.
SPEAKER_02: Faith in Christ gives us the courage to stand firm and to forgive, even in the worst circumstances possible.
SPEAKER_02: With that, there's there's three truths that we're gonna pull from today's text.
SPEAKER_02: First, seeing Christ in chaos.
SPEAKER_02: Secondly, forgiving in faith, and then thirdly, we'll see how faith transforms trials.
SPEAKER_02: I'll pray and then let's dig in.
SPEAKER_02: Heavenly Father, thank you for bringing us here today.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, I pray through for all of those in our church who are walking through tough times, Lord, through loss, through pain, through suffering.
SPEAKER_02: And God, I pray that through those times that we can be a people who fix our eyes on you, who look to the heavenly throne room, who see the Christ seated at Christ's right hand.
SPEAKER_02: At God's right hand, Lord.
SPEAKER_02: I pray that your Holy Spirit would come.
SPEAKER_02: Would you guide, guard, and direct us, Lord?
SPEAKER_02: Would your word be made clear today, Lord?
SPEAKER_02: Move me out of the way and let your word be made clear.
SPEAKER_02: God, we love you.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus, thank you for the sacrifice on the cross.
SPEAKER_02: It's in the mighty name of Jesus, I pray.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: So, Acts 74 and through 56.
SPEAKER_02: Acts 7, 54 through 56.
SPEAKER_02: My words are like fumbling today, man.
SPEAKER_02: That was crazy.
SPEAKER_02: It's been a week.
SPEAKER_02: Acts 7, 54 through 56.
SPEAKER_02: Now, when they heard these things, they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: And he said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.
SPEAKER_02: So this is Stephen that we're looking at, and the Sanhedrin, the council, they are furious.
SPEAKER_02: They are enraged at the sermon he just preached, at the speech he gave that pointed to all these Old Testament stories pointing to Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: And it says that they're so mad that they are gnashing their teeth.
SPEAKER_02: And this gnashing of teeth, this echoes the Psalms.
SPEAKER_02: Psalm 35, Psalm 37, Psalm 112 all allude to this gnashing of teeth, where the wicked gnash their teeth at the righteous.
SPEAKER_02: What this does is it frames Stephen as the righteous sufferer in continuity with the Old Testament saints.
SPEAKER_02: So let me ask you, have you ever been so mad that you gnashed your teeth at somebody?
SPEAKER_02: Maybe some of us have.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe some of us haven't.
SPEAKER_02: Or have you ever had someone so mad at you?
SPEAKER_02: Or have you ever had someone so indignant at you that they gnashed their teeth at you?
SPEAKER_02: Like that, that's mad, mad, right?
SPEAKER_02: That's really mad.
SPEAKER_02: And I don't know about you, but like I can't think of a specific instance, but I think that if someone were to gnash their teeth at me, like I'd probably be like looking back at them, right?
SPEAKER_02: Like, hey, what's going on?
SPEAKER_02: But but what's so interesting is Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, he doesn't look at his enemies here in the text.
SPEAKER_02: No, what the text shows us is he's looking to heaven.
SPEAKER_02: And this is so significant.
SPEAKER_02: Like, don't miss this, guys.
SPEAKER_02: Stephen, in this text, he's standing in the temple, but what what we see is that he sees the true temple in heaven.
SPEAKER_02: The visible temple is below Stephen's feet, but heaven opens above.
SPEAKER_02: What we're seeing is that the presence of God is moving beyond Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_02: This is foreshadowing God's mission to Judea and Samaria.
SPEAKER_02: You remember that Acts 1.8 verse that we kind of began this sermon series with.
SPEAKER_02: And what the text says is that Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: Like, that's an important detail that we cannot miss.
SPEAKER_02: He was full of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: In the face of opposition, we must be full of the Holy Spirit too.
SPEAKER_02: In the midst of chaos, we must be full of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: And so, Stephen, he gazes into heaven.
SPEAKER_02: And what does he see?
SPEAKER_02: Well, he sees the glory of God.
SPEAKER_02: He sees the glory of God.
SPEAKER_02: This is incredible, right?
SPEAKER_02: Stephen's vision, it echoes so many Old Testament theophanies.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and reflects God's heavenly throne above the temple.
SPEAKER_02: And what's so crazy, God is now appearing to Stephen just like he did to Abraham.
SPEAKER_02: If you look back at Acts chapter 7, verse 2, the beginning of Stephen's speech in front of the Sanhedrin, uh, Acts 7, 2 says this.
SPEAKER_02: And Stephen said, Brothers and fathers, hear me.
SPEAKER_02: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia before he lived in Herod.
SPEAKER_02: Do you see the narrative arc that we're looking at in Acts 7?
SPEAKER_02: He points to Abraham, Father Abraham, seeing the glory of God, and now Stephen is seeing the very same glory of God.
SPEAKER_02: We also see this phrase, son of man.
SPEAKER_02: Now, son of man, this phrase son of man outside of the gospels is rare.
SPEAKER_02: Here in this text, it connects directly to Daniel chapter 7, verses 13 and 14.
SPEAKER_02: Those verses read, I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, there came one like a son of man, and he came to the ancient of days, and was presented before him, and to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him.
SPEAKER_02: His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
SPEAKER_02: So these these verses in Daniel, they're they're messianic in nature.
SPEAKER_02: They're prophetically pointing to them to the Messiah Jesus, where the divine Son of Man receives dominion from the ancient of days.
SPEAKER_02: And what's happening here in Acts 7 is Stephen is seeing the fulfillment of this in real time.
SPEAKER_02: What this shows us is Christ is not just the Savior, Christ is Lord.
SPEAKER_02: And what's so interesting, maybe you guys will find this interesting, maybe you don't.
SPEAKER_02: I can kind of geek out on this sort of stuff.
SPEAKER_02: But like scholars disagree on this because so often when when Jesus in heaven is discussed, is seen in the text, he's seated at the right hand of God.
SPEAKER_02: But what's so interesting is Stephen sees Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
SPEAKER_02: So scholars have like wrestled with, okay, why is what's what's the reason for this difference?
SPEAKER_02: Um I think that it's significant.
SPEAKER_02: I think that there's a point in why we see that.
SPEAKER_02: I think it's a critical point, in fact.
SPEAKER_02: I think that what this shows us is that Jesus Christ stands for his witness.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is a witness to the courtroom imagery that we're seeing here.
SPEAKER_02: This is courtroom imagery in this text.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is standing to advocate for Stephen.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is affirming his testimony and welcoming him home.
SPEAKER_02: In Jewish courtrooms, that the judge or advocate would stand to render a verdict.
SPEAKER_02: And so Jesus, he's standing as Stephen's heavenly advocate, declaring him righteous, though content, though he is condemned by man, though he is condemned by the Sanhedrin.
SPEAKER_02: If you look back to Luke chapter 12, verse 8, the text says, And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God.
SPEAKER_02: That's what's going on here.
SPEAKER_02: And I think that this also signals action.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is saying that judgment and vindication are underway.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is both the judge and the advocate in this scenario and all others.
SPEAKER_02: Not the council, not the Sanhedrin, not the religious leaders.
SPEAKER_02: No, Jesus Christ is both judge and advocate.
SPEAKER_02: So, family, for us, what is the application?
SPEAKER_02: Well, I think we can look at it and see that when chaos surrounds us, like it may in the past, like it may be in the present, like it may in the future, when chaos surrounds us, we must look up.
SPEAKER_02: We must fix our eyes on Jesus, Jevin.
SPEAKER_02: The gospel is never bound to a place.
SPEAKER_02: No, it's driven by the presence of God.
SPEAKER_02: The Spirit empowers believers not just to endure, but to worship in suffering.
SPEAKER_02: So the question for us this morning is what do you look at when chaos comes?
SPEAKER_02: When you're dealing with health issues, when you gotta have a back surgery, what do you look at when chaos comes?
SPEAKER_02: When you're trying to make ends meet and your car breaks down, when chaos comes, what do you look at?
SPEAKER_02: When your grandpa passes away, when your grandmother passes away, what do you look at?
SPEAKER_02: When the chaos comes.
SPEAKER_02: My hope for us as a church is that we fix our eyes on Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: That's what Stephen did.
SPEAKER_02: He fixed his eyes on Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: He saw into the heavenly throne room.
SPEAKER_02: And seeing Christ steadied Stephen.
SPEAKER_02: But see, but but but there's more.
SPEAKER_02: Seeing Christ doesn't just steady Stephen, it transforms him.
SPEAKER_02: Because what happens next, it's not just miraculous.
SPEAKER_02: No, it's like cross-shaped living, the Stephen's modeling.
SPEAKER_02: As the stones start to fly, what flows out of Stephen isn't rage, it's grace.
SPEAKER_02: Stephen, he doesn't retaliate, he forgives.
SPEAKER_02: So let's see what faith does when suffering gets personal.
SPEAKER_02: Point number two this morning is forgiving in faith.
SPEAKER_02: Forgiving in faith.
SPEAKER_02: Acts chapter 7, verses 57 through 60.
SPEAKER_02: But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him.
SPEAKER_02: Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him.
SPEAKER_02: And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.
SPEAKER_02: And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
SPEAKER_02: And falling to his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against them.
SPEAKER_02: And when he said when and when he had said this, he fell asleep.
SPEAKER_02: So Stephen, he sees the heavens opened up, the glory of God appears to him, he shares that with those around him, and the council, they're still mad.
SPEAKER_02: They're mad, mad.
SPEAKER_02: Like really mad.
SPEAKER_02: And like upon first read, verse 57, it's almost like a little bit comical.
SPEAKER_02: Like they scream, they stop their ears, and then they rush at Stephen.
SPEAKER_02: They cast him out and stone him.
SPEAKER_02: They wrongly claim that they are the judge of this man Stephen's life.
SPEAKER_02: They, and not the Christ, are the judge of this man's life.
SPEAKER_02: That's like what my wife and I would do when we're in a big fight.
SPEAKER_02: Like, no, I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_02: Roman's like, no, you're not kidding.
SPEAKER_02: But seriously, like that's what a little kid does, right?
SPEAKER_02: But that's what's going on here.
SPEAKER_02: They're indignant.
SPEAKER_02: They can't see past their anger.
SPEAKER_02: They can't see not only their anger at Stephen, but it's anger at the proclamation of Christ.
SPEAKER_02: We then meet a young man named Saul.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe you've heard of him.
SPEAKER_02: The witnesses, they lay down their garments at his feet.
SPEAKER_02: Now go with me here.
SPEAKER_02: Really try to picture this.
SPEAKER_02: Stephen, he's being stoned, and he has the wherewithal to utter two phrases.
SPEAKER_02: Lord Jesus, receive my spirit, and do not hold this sin against them.
SPEAKER_02: Receive my spirit.
SPEAKER_02: This shows Stephen's dependence on the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: He is fully and wholly dependent on the Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Then he says, do not hold this sin.
SPEAKER_02: This shows mercy that is so uncommon to us as sinful humans.
SPEAKER_02: But what this does is it echoes Psalm 31:5.
SPEAKER_02: And what's so interesting to me is in this psalm that he's alluding to, it's originally addressed to God the Father, but now it is being spoken to the Son.
SPEAKER_02: Stephen is praying that to the Son.
SPEAKER_02: This is a powerful Christological affirmation.
SPEAKER_02: He is affirming Christ's deity right here.
SPEAKER_02: And that's like what he's getting killed about, right?
SPEAKER_02: Like in the face of getting stoned, he's still proclaiming Christ.
SPEAKER_02: It's crazy.
SPEAKER_02: And significantly, both of these phrases, they directly echo Jesus' words on the cross.
SPEAKER_02: Look back at Luke 23, 34, Luke 23, 46.
SPEAKER_02: Like it's a it's a straight up echo of Jesus' words on the cross.
SPEAKER_02: Like Jesus, Stephen is falsely accused.
SPEAKER_02: Like Jesus, Stephen is forced out of the city.
SPEAKER_02: Like Jesus, Stephen prays for his murderers.
SPEAKER_02: What this does, what Stephen's showing us, is his death mirrors Jesus', and his life models what it looks like to live a life following the way of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: It is a life that is wholly devoted to Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: So could others say about you that you live a cross-shaped life?
SPEAKER_02: That you live a life that models the life of Jesus?
SPEAKER_02: Or are you at least seeking to live a life that models Jesus?
SPEAKER_02: Because that's our calling as Christians.
SPEAKER_02: Stephen then dies.
SPEAKER_02: The text says he fell asleep.
SPEAKER_02: That's a friendly way of saying he's dead.
SPEAKER_02: So he dies and he is the first Christian martyr.
SPEAKER_02: The first Christian martyr, the first of many.
SPEAKER_02: There's many that we read about throughout the rest of Acts and throughout church history.
SPEAKER_02: There have been many who have died for their faith.
SPEAKER_02: But Stephen is undoubtedly the first.
SPEAKER_02: And so interesting because Stephen, he does not just die for Christ.
SPEAKER_02: No, he dies a like he dies like Christ.
SPEAKER_02: This is cross-shaped faith.
SPEAKER_02: Stephen, he lived out Jesus' own teachings to love one's enemies.
SPEAKER_02: This shows the spiritual power of this Jesus movement that's beginning.
SPEAKER_02: The followers of the way, as they're called in the book of Acts, they are called to love their enemies, and Stephen is modeling this in real time.
SPEAKER_02: Because here's the reality for us, family, is that true, spirit-filled living?
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't just testify boldly and loudly.
SPEAKER_02: No, it forgives freely.
SPEAKER_02: Gospel-shaped forgiveness is not passive.
SPEAKER_02: No, it's costly and it's proactive.
SPEAKER_02: So right now, just like let's hit pause real quick.
SPEAKER_02: Who do you need to forgive?
SPEAKER_02: Who in your life do you need to forgive?
SPEAKER_02: If Stephen can forgive the very people who are stoning him, then you can forgive that person that looked at you sideways on the road, or that that family member that just irks you, or that coworker that drives you crazy.
SPEAKER_02: Like, you can forgive freely.
SPEAKER_02: And even more so than like Stephen modeling it.
SPEAKER_02: Like Jesus forgave sinners like us.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: And if Jesus can forgive a sinner like us, then who are we to not forgive freely?
SPEAKER_02: The call for us is the same as it is for Stephen, as it is for Christians throughout the years.
SPEAKER_02: We're called to follow the way of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: We're called to live a cruciform life, a cross-shaped life.
SPEAKER_02: We're called to depend on the power of the Holy Spirit, and we're called to forgive freely.
SPEAKER_02: Forgive the one who wronged you.
SPEAKER_02: Pray for those who persecute you.
SPEAKER_02: That's what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 5.
SPEAKER_02: So here's the thing.
SPEAKER_02: I think in our culture we can think of forgiveness as weakness.
SPEAKER_02: But forgiveness is not weakness.
SPEAKER_02: Forgiveness is spirit-empowered strength.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, this text shakes me up because what's so crazy to me is that Stephen's forgiveness was heard by Saul, who would become Paul after his conversion experience.
SPEAKER_02: And this is purely speculation.
SPEAKER_02: I don't think the text like undeniably tells us this anywhere, but what I would present to you is that Stephen's bold gospel witness and Stephen's radical forgiveness planted a gospel seed within Saul.
SPEAKER_02: The seed of grace would one day sprout into Paul's salvation on the road to Damascus.
SPEAKER_02: And I think that like sometimes the way in which you die, as it did for Stephen, it preaches louder than the way in which you live.
SPEAKER_02: I uh went to a funeral yesterday.
SPEAKER_02: Uh Chelsea's grandmother passed away, um, just natural causes, old age.
SPEAKER_02: And, you know, she was undoubtedly a believer in the Lord Jesus, and um, it was a beautiful celebration of life service.
SPEAKER_02: Um, yeah, like I saw a glimpse of that yesterday.
SPEAKER_02: Uh just a month ago, I've shared this with some of you.
SPEAKER_02: My one of my best friends, um, they lost their baby in delivery, and um I had to go down to Newton, Kansas and do that funeral.
SPEAKER_02: And so just the duality of life and death and what what it looks like to live a life of faithful Christian witness, of faithfully walking and following in the way of Jesus for years and years and years to a newborn baby dying when they shouldn't have.
SPEAKER_02: Like, just the duality of it.
SPEAKER_02: I believe they're they're both in the presence of God right now, but both times Christ was preached.
SPEAKER_02: And here's the thing like, I don't know, funerals are so maybe I'm being like super morbid lately just because of all this, like, but but like at a funeral, you get such an interesting glimpse into how diff people grieve differently, how people suffer differently.
SPEAKER_02: And I and I think that's important, right?
SPEAKER_02: Like your grace and suffering, it might be someone else's awakening, right?
SPEAKER_02: How you walk through the most difficult days of your life must be, maybe, may be your greatest witness.
SPEAKER_02: And I think that's what we're seeing through this Stephen story.
SPEAKER_02: While the mob, the mob that is stoning him thinks they've silenced a troublemaker, what we see and what we know is that God is just getting started.
SPEAKER_02: The blood on the ground becomes seed and the soil.
SPEAKER_02: Last week I quoted one of the early church fathers who said, the blood of the martyrs is the seed on which the church is built.
SPEAKER_02: That's what we're seeing in real time right here.
SPEAKER_02: The story doesn't stop here, though.
SPEAKER_02: It scatters.
SPEAKER_02: So let's see how Stephen's death becomes a doorway, becomes a propelling force into the gospel movement in which we're living today.
SPEAKER_02: Point three, faith transforms trials.
SPEAKER_02: Faith transforms trials.
SPEAKER_02: I was glanced over here and saw all the stickers on you.
SPEAKER_02: I love it.
SPEAKER_02: Acts chapter 8, verses 1 through 3.
SPEAKER_02: And Saul approved of his execution, and there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
SPEAKER_02: Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him.
SPEAKER_02: But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.
SPEAKER_02: Real quick, let's look at just zero in on Saul.
SPEAKER_02: So first Saul approves.
SPEAKER_02: Saul approves of this execution.
SPEAKER_02: And if we zoom out a little bit, Saul's descent, it's quick.
SPEAKER_02: Acts 7.58, Saul is present.
SPEAKER_02: Acts 8.1, Saul is approving.
SPEAKER_02: And then the end of this section of text, Saul is then ravaging the church.
SPEAKER_02: Because here's the thing.
SPEAKER_02: Sin, it doesn't just like simmer.
SPEAKER_02: It's it's it can, right?
SPEAKER_02: It can be kind of a crockpot thing, but it can also be a microwave thing where it happens rapidly, and before you know it, you're not the person who you once were.
SPEAKER_02: Sin spreads, right?
SPEAKER_02: But here's the thing, family.
SPEAKER_02: So does God's grace.
SPEAKER_02: And for those of us who know this book of Acts, we know that Acts 9 is coming.
SPEAKER_02: Saul will become Paul.
SPEAKER_02: Saul will be made new.
SPEAKER_02: 2 Corinthians 5, 17 happening in his life.
SPEAKER_02: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
SPEAKER_02: The old has passed away.
SPEAKER_02: Behold, the new has come.
SPEAKER_02: That's what's about to happen to this dude who is ravaging the church.
SPEAKER_02: Grace is on the move.
SPEAKER_02: And as we're just looking at this chronologically, like at this moment in time, I bet they didn't feel like that, right?
SPEAKER_02: I bet they felt pretty hopeless.
SPEAKER_02: Persecution had reached crazy heights and lengths.
SPEAKER_02: They were scattered across the region.
SPEAKER_02: They probably thought that this Saul guy was beyond redemption.
SPEAKER_02: Is there anybody in your life that you're like, ah, like, you know, like, yeah, that person could experience God's grace, but not that person.
SPEAKER_02: Like, they're too far gone.
SPEAKER_02: That's if I can just be real with you, um, before church planting, I worked in the nonprofit world.
SPEAKER_02: I worked for an addiction recovery nonprofit.
SPEAKER_02: And um, I would sit knee to knee with these men coming out of um just complete and utter darkness, complete and utter addiction, and like I could see hope for them.
SPEAKER_02: But what was going on behind closed doors is my dad was struggling with alcoholism, and I could not see hope for him.
SPEAKER_02: It's like, hey, your loved one, they might be able to experience the real Jesus and their life be radically transformed, but not my pops.
SPEAKER_02: Like, maybe your pops can can find the freedom that you found, but not my dad.
SPEAKER_02: Like, I'd grown hard-hearted.
SPEAKER_02: And the Lord just broke me down, and today my dad's living in freedom, and it has nothing to do with me and everything to do with the living God.
SPEAKER_02: And I think that, like, they, you know, again, this is pure speculation, but my guess is that the believers of the early church in the book of Acts probably had that same sort of feeling to this guy, Saul, who's persecuting them.
SPEAKER_02: But as we'll get to in a few weeks, Jesus radically encounters him and completely transforms Saul's life.
SPEAKER_02: So what we see, no persecutor is beyond redemption.
SPEAKER_02: Like, that's a tough truth.
SPEAKER_02: Like, are we cool with someone committing persecution, being redeemed by the living God?
SPEAKER_02: Well, we better be because the Bible calls us to.
SPEAKER_02: So, persecution, it reaches unseen heights in this season of the early church, and the early church, it's scatters.
SPEAKER_02: Again, they probably felt pretty dang hopeless.
SPEAKER_02: But this scattering, it's strategic.
SPEAKER_02: It's used for gospel expansion.
SPEAKER_02: Remember all the way back to Acts 1.8 when we first began this sermon series.
SPEAKER_02: Acts 1.8 says, But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
SPEAKER_02: The first seven chapters of Acts, it's all Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_02: They haven't gone to Judea and Samaria, and they for sure haven't been to the ends of the earth.
SPEAKER_02: But Stephen's death propels this Acts 1.8 mission forward.
SPEAKER_02: Stephen's death ends the Jerusalem-centered narrative and it launches the gospel to Judea and Samaria, thus fulfilling Acts 1.8.
SPEAKER_02: God, he uses persecution as gospel fuel.
SPEAKER_02: John Stott says this about this section of Acts, about this verse.
SPEAKER_02: The devil has overreached himself.
SPEAKER_02: His attack led to the opposite effect.
SPEAKER_02: Instead of smothering the gospel, it succeeds only in spreading it.
SPEAKER_02: And I think that's a truth for us still today.
SPEAKER_02: The plots and schemes of the enemy, they will ultimately be futile.
SPEAKER_02: What we say often in this church is that we know how the story ends.
SPEAKER_02: We fight from victory.
SPEAKER_02: We don't fight for victory.
SPEAKER_02: We know that Christ is and will be victorious.
SPEAKER_02: And throughout the scriptures, what looks like defeat is actually God advancing his mission.
SPEAKER_02: As we go through the next couple chapters of Acts, we'll see how persecution purifies and multiplies the church.
SPEAKER_02: But I don't want to miss a couple things from this last little section.
SPEAKER_02: We see deep lament shown in Acts 8.2.
SPEAKER_02: And it shows us that the advancement of the gospel, it's not like triumphalistic.
SPEAKER_02: The gospel advancement doesn't eliminate grief.
SPEAKER_02: The gospel advancement isn't just like this pretty perfect thing.
SPEAKER_02: Like sometimes it's messy, sometimes there's hurt, sometimes there's pain when God is pushing his mission forward.
SPEAKER_02: God's mission often moves forward amidst tears.
SPEAKER_02: The Jesus life, living life as a follower of the way of Jesus, it often comes with tears.
SPEAKER_02: I like to refer to them as sacred tears.
SPEAKER_02: There's pain, right?
SPEAKER_02: Like that's just a reality of life.
SPEAKER_02: Can I just tell you this morning that Christ is worth the pain?
SPEAKER_02: Christ is worth the pain every single time.
SPEAKER_02: And so we may weep, but we weep forward.
SPEAKER_02: We weep forward, onward on the mission with Christ.
SPEAKER_02: What if your trial?
SPEAKER_02: What if whatever you're walking through right now is the seed of someone's salvation?
SPEAKER_02: Is it worth it then?
SPEAKER_02: Don't waste your suffering.
SPEAKER_02: Let it proclaim Christ, family.
SPEAKER_02: We should be encouraged by this text, despite all the tears that are likely being shed upon these pages.
SPEAKER_02: But despite this, Jesus is building his church.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is building his church, even in persecution, even in pain, even in martyrdom.
SPEAKER_02: Christ is building his church.
SPEAKER_02: And Christ is still building his church today.
SPEAKER_02: I uh did a little interview, um, video interview last week for uh the Sins Network, the church planting network we're a part of.
SPEAKER_02: And one of the questions that was asked was like, hey, what would you tell future church planters?
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, oh, like, you know, we've been doing this a year and a half.
SPEAKER_02: I have so much to say, right?
SPEAKER_02: But but no, what what the Lord put on my heart to say was Christ will build his church.
SPEAKER_02: Christ will build his church.
SPEAKER_02: It's not up to us.
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't matter the eloquent words we may speak or sing, like it doesn't matter if we wear ourselves thin, being the best dang volunteers, like it's not up to us.
SPEAKER_02: Christ will build his church.
SPEAKER_02: Praise God that we have an opportunity to be a part of that.
SPEAKER_02: So Stephen's story, it may end here, but the Holy Spirit's work does not.
SPEAKER_02: His vision, his voice, and his victory through death become part of a much larger story, one that is still unfolding in us.
SPEAKER_02: So, what about you in the face of rejection, in the face of hostility, in the face of suffering, will you fix your eyes upon Jesus?
SPEAKER_02: Will you forgive like Jesus?
SPEAKER_02: Will you trust in the mission of Jesus?
SPEAKER_02: I'll invite Ashton up here to close us.
SPEAKER_02: We're actually going to close with communion, but before that, to recap, faith sees Christ in chaos.
SPEAKER_02: Faith forgives like Christ in suffering, and faith trusts Christ to transform trials.
SPEAKER_02: Family, you may not be facing stones, but you're facing something.
SPEAKER_02: Would you today fix your eyes on Jesus?
SPEAKER_02: Would you fix your eyes on the cross?
SPEAKER_02: Your suffering, it may not end in death, but your faithfulness in that trial might spark new life in someone's life.
SPEAKER_02: Stephen's death, it mirrors Christ's, like we said.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus stood for him, advocating for him.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus Christ is and will stand for you too.
SPEAKER_02: And one day, every faithful saint throughout generations will stand with him in glory.
SPEAKER_02: So my encouragement to you, what I leave you with, is to look to Jesus when culture shouts you down.
SPEAKER_02: Speak like Jesus when injustice crushes your spirits.
SPEAKER_02: Trust Jesus when your faith costs you everything.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, would you give us eyes to see you, hearts to forgive like you, and faith to trust you no matter the cost.
unknown: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Thanks for listening.
SPEAKER_01: Join us Sundays at 10 30 a.m.
SPEAKER_01: in the Rosedale neighborhood of Kansas City.
SPEAKER_01: Or find us anytime at the WakeKC.church.