Hey man, turn your bottles over to Axe 7.
We're there in Axe 7 and we're gonna go through every verse in Axe 7.
On Sunday, last week we had that cold front, which is so weird, right?
Last week was so cold that we, in order to not endanger anybody, we cancelled.
And then today it's almost like 80 degrees, isn't it?
I mean, what is it?
Like it is, yeah, 77 degrees.
It's insane that we live like this.
But you know, it is what it is, that's not what we're here for.
But we're there in Acts 7, and the title of the sermon this evening is "Steven Received
by Jesus."
"Steven Received by Jesus," I was really, probably of all the chapters that we were going
to cover in the series or this Bible study through the book of Acts, Acts 7 is the one
that I was most looking forward to.
It'll probably be the one that I'll reference back as we go through the rest of the book
of Acts.
So Acts 7 is this great chapter of Stephen preaching a super hard sermon and basically
being sacrificed or dying because of it.
And so we know that that's the end of this chapter, right, and on Sunday when we preached
over Acts 6 we saw that the deacons were chosen and one of the things that stands out is when
they choose Stephen the Bible literally says only of him that he was full of faith and of
the Holy Ghost and then later on that chapter in chapter 6 it says he was full of faith and
of power.
So there's something to be said about not just the faith to be saved but being full
of faith and what that means to me when I read through that is that up to that point
whatever part of scripture he had he was dedicated to reading his Bible, implementing the commandments
of God in his life so much so that for him nothing was valued more than just preaching
the word of God even unto death and he stood out I mean literally a conspiracy of bribery
and false witnesses were brought up against him from a bunch of guys that couldn't resist
him and they were trying to convince him otherwise and he just kept preaching and so that happens
right there at the end of chapter 6 after they couldn't win all these arguments and they
kept falsely bringing him up and they even said that he spoke blasphemous words against
Moses and against God in verse 15 of chapter 6 it says and all that sat in the council
looking steadfastly at him saw his face that had been the face of an angel so they're just
going back and forth and after that we see here we start in chapter 1 and it says then
says the high priest are these things so so he's questioning him again i mean they're going
back and forth and and he said this be steven men brethren and fathers harkin so this is a
servant that steven's about to go into i love the way this starts because you know a lot of times
people think what do we say when we get called up against councils or governors or whatnot look
we just got to take a book from a page out of the book of steven and just preach the word
literally nobody's even asking for the sermon they're asking for a response he's like the way i'm
going to respond to you is with a sermon and he proceeds to preach the sermon he says and he
starts out the glory of god appeared onto our father abraham when he was in mesopotamia
before he dwelt in karen or sharon and said to him get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred
and come into the land which i shall show thee then came he out of the land of the caldeans and
dwelt in karen and from thence when his father was dead he removed him into this land wherein ye now
dwelt and he gave him none inheritance in it no not so much as to set his foot on yet he promised
that he would give it to him for possession and to his seat after him when as yet he had no child
and god spake on the wise that his seat should sojourn in a strange land and that they should
bring them in bondage and entreat them in evil for a hundred years and the nation of whom they shall
be in bondage well i judge said god and after that show they come forth and serve me in this place
and he gave him the covenant of circumcision and so abraham beget isaac and circumcise them on the
eighth day and isaac beget jacob and jacob beget the 12 patriarchs so we're going to stop there real
quick we're going to go through these i'm really not going to jump around so if you want to go to
the verses that i'm going to reference you're more than welcome to but what do we see in these
first eight eight verses when he starts this sermon what is the sermon about the sermon
is about the history of the jewish people but really it's not even about the jewish people
it's really the history of the saved you know of salvation uh through faith in jesus christ right
and why do you why do i say that well because that's literally what they're disputing right
they're disputing that he's bringing blasphemous words against moses and against god and what he
and uh what he's really what are they really saying hey he's not preaching the law but he's
preaching grace through faith in jesus christ and here in verse eight he says and he gave him the
covenant of circumcision in verse eight of chapter seven and so abraham began isaac and
circumcised him on the eighth day and what is really the covenant of circumcision well i mean
we're not going to go into all this like i said i'm just going to jump in a couple of verses
so really just keep your finger there in uh in chapter in chapter seven and i'm sorry i got a
like a like i cut my tongue and so if you hear me struggling because my tongue is is injured and so
my i am having a hard time getting some of these words out like a list but it's in galatians six
verse 12 when speaking of the circumcision the bible says and as many as desire to make a fair
show in the flesh they constrain you or they command you or they force you right they constrain
you to be circumcised only less they should suffer persecution for the cross of christ for neither
they themselves who are circumcised keep the law but desire to have you circumcised that they make
glory in your flesh and catch that it says hey they don't keep the law but they still want you to be
circumcised so that they can show off that they're following the law right and isn't that what works
salvation is it's always finding something to brag about even though you still are falling short of the
glory of god it says but god forbid that i should glory save in the cross of our lord jesus christ by
whom the world is crucified unto me and i unto the lord for in christ jesus neither circumcision
circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision but what but a new creature and i love the reason
i wanted these verses there's other ones but here because it's like hey doesn't matter if you're
circumcised or uncircumcised the matter is if you're a new creature well how do you become a new
creature in christ by believing on the lord jesus christ and what what uh steven does so brilliantly
here is he's like hey you guys keep you're fighting with me in chapter six and then you're
questioning me if these things are so so let me make sure that that's clear for you you keep saying
that i'm bringing false accusations about moses and about god well let me go back to the very
beginning before moses was abraham before moses was isaac before moses was jacob before moses was
the 12 patriarchs right and he's saying let's go back to the beginning and see what this thing's
really about so it's interesting because one of the things that i did and i didn't do it on purpose
but it works out because it's the bible you know i on sundays i'm preaching an overview of the
bible and we're actually wrapping up the book of genesis and a lot of people would think that
that's maybe a little bit boring or not as important but you know what when you get to the book
of acts in verse i mean in chapter seven it's super important to know the history of the bible
because what do we see from the very beginning that salvation is free it's a free gift it's by
grace it's through faith and the patriarchs every single one of them knew this to be a fact they all
got saved because they believed on the lord jesus christ not because that they did great things or
because they were circumcised on the eighth day or because they did all these righteous works no
but because they just simply believed and this is what they're arguing with i mean steven is like
look let me put it to you plain and simple let me speak to you plainly like the bible likes to use
the king james right let me tell you these things that are so and let me say this if you go back
to the beginning none of this matter none of this matters right if you go there verse nine it says
and the patriarchs so so there's a pause in the sermon i don't know if there's a pause literally or
if chapter if verse nine is just pausing there to tell us what's going on while steven is doing it so
there's two kinds of uh emotions that are evoked when you get a preacher hopefully or there's two
emotions that we would want to evoke the first emotion that i want to evoke and the most important
one is i want to stir you up i want to prick your heart i want to motivate you i want to just
fill you with unction and uh from the holy spirit i want you to leave here fired up ready to go out
there into the spiritual battle like the goal of preaching is that when we leave you feel better
than when you showed up right that when you said man i came into church and i didn't really know
what was going to go on and no matter how good or boring the pastor was he preached from the word of god
and when i left i learned something and my life is better for it that's the main thing that's why
we preach right because i have something to say i read the bible and i feel like hey i want to say
what other people aren't saying i want to tell you how it is i don't want to be like donald trump
though and just tell you what i think i want to tell you i want to be like god's children and tell
you what god thinks and actually not even what god thinks what is the fact what god knows the second
thing that can happen is though you preach a hard sermon and you're going to stir the people
in the wrong way which is actually also a thing that you want to accomplish as a preacher because
you want to weed out the tears you want to weed out the devils and the false prophets and the
haters from the congregation so as i'm preaching the word of god i want to preach hard so that
those people who maybe are on the fence maybe they're a little watered down maybe they're not a
little convinced about the maybe they're not as convinced about the bible they get a little
uncomfortable and you know what hopefully they leave right and what ends up happening is also
they will probably end up attacking you what we don't want these are like tertiary and maybe
fourth or fifth feelings is you don't want to be a boring preacher in the sense that you just don't
want to be boring and what i mean by that is you know if a preacher is not emphatic and he doesn't
pound the pulpit and he doesn't jump up and he doesn't he's not maybe a great speaker and i don't
think i'm a great speaker but you know someone who's just maybe not as as emotional if they're
preaching the word of god it's okay as long as they're preaching the truth but you don't want to
be boring where you're basically going through the motions and somebody taught you what to say
and so you're just saying it without any belief or conviction you know you can be mild mannered
you can bring your voice down you can just be calm and you can still be very emphatic and believe
in what you say as a matter of fact you could go to the grave fighting a battle without having
to scream a battle cry you know it just depends on on the situation that doesn't mean that you don't
that you don't have emotion or conviction about the thing that you're preaching you know there's
preachers that might not preach as emphatically but they convictedly that they will they will die on
that cross what cross the cross of jesus christ they they will go above and beyond if somebody says hey
you can't do that if they it's against the bible they'll still do it you know and so we see here in
verse nine we get a little pause and it says and the patriarchs moved with envy sold joseph into egypt
but god was with them and so and i'm sorry i messed up this is not the pause the pause comes later but
uh steven here is preaching and he says the patriarchs they moved with envy and sold joseph
into egypt but god was with him so it's interesting then verse eight stephen is basically setting the stage
and he's making what the contrast he's saying hey abraham was given the the covenant of circumcision
now i didn't go to those verses but we know for a fact because this is a chapter about salvation
that what he's talking about is not the physical circumcision he's talking about the circumcision of
the heart and we know this because in verse nine he says and the patriarchs who were also circumcised
by the way because they were all following that law at the time moved with envy sold joseph into egypt
but god was with him you know why they sold him in egypt because they're envious why were they
envious not only because he was saved because the patriarchs were also saved but because he truly
had his faith and his belief and his conviction in the lord jesus christ right what he's saying is hey
look you guys because i don't know i mean he's preaching to a lot of people and we know that
there's a lot of people multiplied and so he's probably preaching to some that are are reprobate
and lost and some that are saved but they're just not convicted for god and he's saying let me just
make sure i cover the entire gambit let me cover everybody here and he's basically calling out some
of the more religious safe people he's like look you're envious you're envious of me you're envious
of the growth and that's going to happen you know you think that the the grecians what is it it says
here that uh uh in in chapter six it was the grecians and the alexandrians and the sicily of asia
they disputed with uh with uh stephen right you think these guys aren't envious of stephen and the
apostles and the deacons i mean literally the apostles had to appoint deacons because there's
tens of thousands of people that are saved and are serving in the ministry of the lord and now
there's a little bit of murmuring because you know they're just grown so big right and stay there
in act seven and uh we'll go there in verse 10 and it says and they delivered him out of all his
afflictions i mean and so it says god was with him and delivered him out of all his afflictions
and gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of pharaoh the king uh king of egypt and made him
governor over egypt and all his house now there came a dearth over all the land of egypt and canaan
and great affliction and our fathers found no sustenance you know their backs lit and think
about this this is a spiritual picture i'm going through an overview i guess i could just throw this
in over the next couple of weeks because what is steven preaching here he's preaching it on a
spiritual matter he says they hey they found no sustenance there's no word being preached
they're not in the word they're not following the words of jesus christ they're not being fed now
we know that the old testament uses carnal examples to show spiritual examples but this is one
of them it says and but when jacob heard that there was corn in egypt he sent out our fathers first
why does he keep saying the fathers because what what do the what do the religious people do
you know when i preach that sermon on the catholics going to hell all the negative comments
that i got weren't even really at me they were just like oh this poor ignorant fool he hasn't read
about the what the church fathers oh this guy have you ever picked up a book about the church fathers
oh if you would only read the church fathers what there's no need thinking it sounds what are these
guys doing they're like oh yeah we we believe the bible no we don't believe god we believe the
fathers we believe in rubin the guy who slept with you know his dad his daddy's concubine oh we
believe juda oh we believe simian and leave you know that's basically and so in a way steven's kind
of almost like uh being being facetious overly emphatic in a in a in a way to like stir them up i
mean he's preaching a hard servant he's like i'm almost picking on him he's like oh he's in out
your father's verse and the second time joseph was made known as his brethren and joseph's kindred
was made known as a pharaoh and then sent joseph and called his father jacob to him and all his
kindred three score and fifteen souls so jacob went down into egypt and he died he and our fathers
and were carried over into sickam and laid in the sepulcher that abraham bought for a sum of money
of the sons of emor the father of sickam paints in here says but when the time of the promise drew
nigh in the magazine because what's the time of the promise he's referring to he's about to tell him
it says which god has sworn it's abraham the people grew and multiplied in egypt what's the
promise when the old testament the promise was to go what into the promised land and what multiplied
the people but what happened before they went into the promised land they were sorely oppressed
and persecuted so now he's making his contrast and it's almost interesting i mean steve is just
doing a great job here because what is happening in the book of acts they now know that the time of
the promise is drawing near because literally jesus said i leave but i'm coming back how when is he
coming back when he's coming back soon i mean so soon that the apostles thought jesus would maybe
come back in his time right there's literally pastors and pastors from the time of the apostles
even to now that have believed that jesus was going to come back in their time that's the cause
isn't it that you may uh a multitude of your pastors and your colleagues and your mentors believe
jesus might come back in your time maybe you even believe he would come back in your time and you
know what it's not wrong to believe that because i believe there's a possibility he might come back
in our time it's the truth right and so he's saying hey s but when the time of the promise drew nigh
well what's drawing nigh to us the promise of eternal life right in hope of eternal life
which god promised before the world began right which god has sworn abraham the people grew and
multiplied in egypt and remember in in act six verse one you know you can turn there if you want
real quick but it says in those days when the number of the disciples was multiplied their rose
and murmuring of the grecians against the hebrews because their widows were neglected in the daily
administration you know by the time you get to chapter six what's going on the disciples are being
multiplied and you know what comes with multiplication tribulation persecution problems you know we
haven't grown that much but we have grown in the last couple of months and you know what's come
with that growth problems i haven't told you about it i'm not going to go into the specifics here
my duty as a pastor is to be private unless it's necessary to be public right like that's my forget
you know the laws of the country which actually require confidentiality but beyond that it's my duty
to be confidential because of the bible asked me to right it's not my duty to just go around
spreading gossip but since since our growth spurt back in like early september it's been like
actually almost like tenfold the problems also it's not anything crazy or uh you know nobody's
dying or anything like that but you know i've had weird calls and requests and just things that have
happened and just it's just it's the nature of that but you know what i'm not shying away from it
because that means that we're growing and the time of the promise is drawing nigh amen and then
let's go there to birth 18 says till another king arose which knew not joseph the same dealt
subtly with our kindred and evil and treated our father so that they cast out their young children
to the end that they might not live in which time moses was born and was exceeding fair and nursed up in
his father's house three months and when he was cast out pharaoh's daughter took him up
and nursed him for her own son and moses was learned in all the wisdom of the egyptians
and was mighty in words and in deeds it's interesting what he's saying right because these
guys know the bible now he's not lying but he's also in my opinion he's he's goading them he said
what do you mean well these guys love the church fathers they're probably judaism you know that's
the religion the prominent religion at the time and what does judaism believe from then to now
that the torah right which is just means the first five books of the bible or the first five
books of the bible genesis exodus leviticus numbers deuteronomy like those are like the
quintessential bible books of the like there's no if they had a choice of the entire bible or just
the first five books they would just focus on the first five books right and in the first five
books what do we have when we when we come to the story of moses what does moses do he's like lord
i'm not good at talking to people i mean isn't that why god mad got mad at him it says and the lord's
anger was kindled at moses because moses didn't want to go and and preach the word not that he
didn't want to do it he just didn't feel adequate to do it but here he's saying moses was learned in
all wisdom of the egyptians it was mighty words and indeed he's not lying this is this is probably
document as well you know remember steven's probably learned and a lot of things you know
there's others other books and they have a historical account of moses outside of the bible
but also even in the bible we know that he was uh well spoken because he had to you know uh preach
the people in the wilderness i mean he did these things but notice how he didn't focus on the the
other part because what he's doing is he's basically calling him out because he's like maybe you don't
know the scripture as good as you think you do because he could have focused on the one thing but
he focused on the other right but the one thing he called him out also is he's letting him know that
hey he's also learned in all the egyptian ways it's not a coincidence or by accident that he's
preaching this he's overemphasizing some areas you know why because who's their father literally in
chapter six they're saying hey he's bringing blasphemous things about moses and god and he's
like let me tell you i know more about moses than you do and not only that let me also point out that
moses was learning all the ways of the egyptians well where are the egyptians the egyptians are
literally the antithesis to christ their world religion they believe in you know false gods
they believe in in like all these weird things they basically worship the devil in the time of
moses i mean literally that's one of the biggest uh uh metaphors or allegories for you know god
versus the devil i mean moses represents everything holy and godly feral represents everything evil
and lewd and wicked right i mean god literally destroys the egyptians he he drowns them in the
red sea like he's saying hey even though he knew all of this moses was saved by grace he didn't
get caught up in all of that it says that when he was full of 40 years old it came into his heart to
visit his brother and the children of israel and see one of them suffer wrong he defended him and
avenged him that was oppressed and smote the egyptian and that word smoke means he murdered him
for he supposed his brother would have understood how the god now poor moses right it says for he
supposed for moses suppose meaning he assumed or he thought that his brother would have understood
how that god by his hand would deliver them but they understood not so what is he even doing here
i mean this is a brilliant display of preaching because he's preaching the word so there's people
that are listening there's two types of people that are probably listening the people that are
listening they're like whoa this is clearing up a lot of the misinformation that we've been
talked about taught about moses and the patriarchs and stuff like that but also the religious folks
are like oh he's exposing us he's calling us out he's basically saying we don't understand because it
is but they understood not because what are what are the what are those people doing they're they're
leaning on not only moses but the people of israel right they're they're leaning on that history
they think that that's what saves you the works right the circumcision and the you know the
sacrifice of goats and bulls and the shedding of the blood at the mercy seat or whatever when it's
really jesus christ they did away with all that if you go over to hebrews 11 then verse 23 the bible
tells us by faith moses when he was born was hit three months of his parents because they saw he
was a proper child and they were not afraid of the king's commandment and i know hebrews wasn't
written in the book of acts but by then they the story is the same they know this stuff by faith
moses when he was come to years refused to be called the son of pharaoh's daughter choosing
rather to suffer with the people of god than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season esteeming
the reproach of christ what is steven preaching christ not god like this general god he's preaching
christ esteeming the reproach of christ greater riches than the treasures of egypt for he had
respect into the recompense of the court of the reward by faith he forsook egypt not fearing
the wrath of the king for he imbued as seeing him who is invisible through faith he kept the
Passover the sprinkling of the blood lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them
by faith they passed through the red sea as by dry land which the egyptians is saying to do or
drowned so i mean hebrews just backs up what steven's already saying hey moses did this all
by faith not by works you tumultuous group bribery and group go back to verse 26 it says in the next
day he showed himself unto them as they strove and would not and would have set them at one again
saying sirs you're a brother and why do you wrong one another so he's still preaching he's saying
that moses basically the next day he's like hey don't wrong one another but he but he that did his
neighbor wrong trust his way thrust him away saying who made thee a ruler and a judge over us
thou kill me as thou didst the egyptian yesterday then fled moses at this same and was a stranger in
the land of medean where he beget two sons remember he named the sons based on the fact that he was
his affliction right that he was a stranger in the land and that the lord had spared him and when 40
years were expired there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sinai an angel of the lord
in a flame of fire in a bush you know when i was a kid even to this day that's one of the coolest
stories right the fiery bush and it spoke to him so he's going through the history he says and when
moses saw it he wondered at the sight and as he drew near to behold it the voice of the lord came
unto him saying i am the god of thy fathers the god of abraham and the god of isaac and the god
of jacob then moses trembled and durst not behold what is what is steven doing here basically calling
him out he's like call me out for moses moses was afraid of god by the way let me just i'm afraid of
god that's what that's what steven's basically saying here and what is he also saying he's like
but you didn't you're not trembling because you know what you know what they're doing right and
this is what he's doing he's actually going into the spiritual aspect of moses whereas you know if
you ever talk to anybody who's too religious what do they focus on all the works oh well moses
sacrificed this or moses did this or moses did that or abraham or whatever i mean you can go to
beth this church today and you get near easter time and i mean there's literally churches that
are blowing the shofar and you've got pastors walking around in the jewish soul and they're
wearing the the hanukkah what is it the is it is it called the hanukkah uh the what's the little
yeah right they're wearing the yanukkah i don't know the yanukkah they're wearing the little yanukkah
i mean they're not jewish and they're doing that stuff right i've literally heard it from the pulpit
from a baptist preacher saying that you know you need a you need to circumcise your child on the
eighth day because that's in the bible when that that was done away with that was literally
specifically for that group of people right where were we let me not lose my oh verse 33
says then then then said the lord to him put off thy shoes from thy feet from the place where
thou standest holy ground i've seen i have seen the affliction of my people which is in egypt
i i have heard their groaning and come down to deliver them and now come i will send thee into
egypt then this moses whom they refused he's basically saying look you keep talking about moses
and you talk about your father they refuse moses you know what he's saying to them indirectly
you guys are refusing moses that's why they're getting mad they're not they're not dumb they're
picking up on what he's putting down he's being really kind of indirectly uh sarcastic almost
facetious to these guys he says this moses whom they refuse saying who may be a ruler and a judge
the same did god send to be a ruler and delivered by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in a
bush he brought them out after that he had showed wonders and signs in the land of egypt and the red
sea and the wilderness 40 years this is that moses which said unto the children of israel a prophet
show the lord your god raise you up unto you of your brother and like unto me him shall he you hear
who is he speaking of jesus verse 35 says this moses whom they refuse and the rebuttal that moses
did when they refused them after all the things was hey the lord's gonna raise up a prophet like
unto me we know obviously better and him show you here and what's going on here is they're not
listening he's calling him out for having deaf ears he's like you keep talking about this moses
i'm preaching jesus and moses preached jesus and you're not even listening it's a great sermon
in john 15 verse in verse 18 the bible says if the world hate you you know that it hated me before
it hated you if you were of the world the world would love his own but because you're not of the
world but i have chosen you out of the world therefore the world hated you remember the word that i said
unto you the servant is not greater than his lord if they have persecuted me they will also persecute
you persecute you if they kept my sayings if they have kept my sayings they will keep yours also
they hate stephen because they hate jesus there's no reason to hate has stephen said anything
egregious so far we're we're almost done and as stephen said anything egregious has he said
anything like hey the the the sodomites of your land need to be stoned feminists need to go back
to the home stop murdering your babies in the womb tranny's stop being tranny's he's not even he's not
even saying any of that he's just saying this is the history of your people and it all points to jesus
so see i don't have to necessarily preach all those things i don't i don't need to preach rome's one
i don't need to preach genesis 19 i don't need to preach judges 19 i preach it because that's
what's commanded but if i just actually preach jesus correctly i'm still going to piss off a bunch of
people but here's the thing in order to preach jesus correctly he said he left us an entire book so
then i do have to and it's not a paradox i mean i'm not being contradictory i'm just saying we have to
start with jesus then as you read then you're going to preach about the homos and you're going to
preach about the feminist and you're going to preach about you know marriage being holy and you're
going to preach about fornication and you're going to preach about drunkenness and you're going to
preach about sanctification but you you know some churches you know the mormons preach a lot of this
stuff and they're the some of the worst people you ever run into they live believe in polygamy
and all kinds of weird stuff you know why because they're not preaching jesus first now i believe
steven the answer with this because i don't even know what was being disputed before but obviously it
wasn't this they're probably going into the weeds of all this stuff right like steve is probably
talking about the bible and he's going into the different things and they're like mad about that
and so he's finally like well you know what let me tell you what what what i need to say you go to
verse 38 it says this is he that was in the church in the wilderness and notice where was the church
in the wilderness where is it when did the church start in the beginning what's the church the
congregation that was the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount
sinai and with our fathers who received the lively oracles to give unto us to whom our fathers would
not obey but thrust him from them and in their hearts turned back again into egypt now he's really
calling them out i mean this is a brilliant sermon because they're they're that's literally who
they're focused on they're like oh our church fathers and oh abraham our father and who moses our
father remember jesus is walking the earth and they're like oh we'd be from we we are not this we'd
be from abraham our father and jesus is like you know if you believed abraham you'd believe me well
you think that this is only a couple of years after christ's past you think that things have changed
no literalmente jesus se arrastra de la muerte y lo que lo que lo que los judíos y los romanos
conspiren a hacer es como hey vamos a pagar a ti para decir que su cuerpo fue robado ¿cierto? y luego
llegamos al acto capítulo uno y ellos están elegiendo deacones y llegamos al acto capítulo dos y
sus personas se están salvando y las personas se están molestando y las personas se están salvando y las
personas se están molestando y las personas se están salvando y están como que no piden a jesus y las
personas se están salvando y están como que te vamos a jalar y las personas se están salvando y están
como que te vamos a matar, lo que es la misma cosa que hicieron en egipto, dice a quien nuestros padres y
me encanta el modo de llamarlo, dice a quien nuestros padres, ¿cuántas veces le dijo a nuestros padres?
como seis veces ahora, dice pero atrapa de ellos y sus corazones se vuelven de nuevo en egipto,
sabes lo que le gustaría a ti hoy, tus corazones se vuelven de nuevo a lo que el mundo, te has salvado
y nunca has sido conectado a la iglesia, te has salvado y nunca has, sabes, invocado, te has salvado
y nunca has leído tu biblio, te has salvado y nunca has ido a la iglesia
y has ido a muchos, no has hecho ninguna de las cosas de dios, pero eres el primero a llamar
las cosas a cabo, es interesante de todos los problemas que hemos tenido recientemente, buenos y malos,
algunos de ellos son como en la escala de 1 a 10, hemos tenido un problema como en la escala de 1,
es decir, fácil, fácil, solvirlos rápidamente, y yo he tenido probablemente algunos que son, no diría 10,
pero tal vez como un 5 o un 6, lo interesante de todos los individuos involucrados en esos
desafíos que hemos tenido durante los últimos meses son personas que, tal vez, a veces vienen una
semana, tal vez no vienen en todo, las personas que vienen a la iglesia regularmente no son un problema
porque están conectadas a la iglesia, y aún mejor, hay un grupo de personas que vienen a la iglesia
regularmente que en realidad escuchan la preciación, esas personas son incluso menos de un problema, porque
preciamos las cosas que no deberían ser un problema en la iglesia, ¿verdad? Se dice que en sus corazones volvieron
de nuevo a Egipto, diciendo a Aaron, "hacemos a los dioses para ir por encima de nosotros, porque este moses
que nos trajo de la tierra de Egipto, no es lo que se ha convertido en él. ¿Qué es un bucho de liedos,
malditos, trasladados, niños, ¿verdad? Saben exactamente dónde es moses, pero no sabemos
qué se convirtió en él, o sea, sólo lo vimos caminando hacia la montaña y nos diciendo
que iba a hablar con Dios, pero no sabemos dónde estaba. ¡Uups! Y hicieron una caja en
esos días y ofrecieron sacrificio ante la isla y rechazaron en el trabajo, ¿de qué? de sus
manos. El mismo problema, un día diferente, la salvación del trabajo, ¿verdad? Cain era
profundo, su condenado fue malo porque Dios no dio respeto a su oferta. ¿Qué representó?
El trabajo de sus manos. Estaban felices, sacrificiados y sacaron sangre para la remisión
del sismo. ¿Verdad? Esa es la imagen. Desde el momento de Cain hasta aquí es la misma
cosa. "Oh, no notas mi trabajo du du du". Si las personas son así, ¿sabes lo que quieren?
Quieren reconocimiento por su trabajo. Sé que dije, creo, quizás la semana pasada o,
sabes, donde estoy como, "hey, estoy tan dedicado, estoy willing to clean toilets". Pero
sabes, no es solo yo, porque no quiero tener reconocimiento por mi trabajo. Hay otros
miembros de esta iglesia, lo sé por un hecho, que limpian las toaletas y se meten
las manos limpias. Y ellos hacen el trabajo del Señor. Y no escuchas que estoy
pasando por ahí, "No nadie notó mi trabajo". Ellos solo hacen las cosas que necesitan
ser hechas por el Señor, porque no es de los trabajos. ¿Ves? No es tan difícil cuando
crees en el Señor Jesucristo, entender que no es de los trabajos. No importa.
Lo que importa es lo que haces por el Señor. En Galatians 1, en versos 6, la
Biblia dice, me encanta esto, porque es literalmente como un reemphaso de esto.
Incluso pregaba esto aquí. Puedes ir al libro de Galatians y dice, "Yo marvel que
ustedes están tan pronto abiertos de él, que te llamaron a la gracia de Cristo
hasta otro Gospelo." Y tú sabes lo que es interesante en los años, esta frase
está de vuelta conmigo más y más. Porque no es como que se han perdido su salvación.
Sabes, una salva siempre salva. Están pregando. Sabes, la gente puede obtener la
mensaje del Gospelo, que es un poco raro, ¿verdad? Si te salvas y sabes que
estás salvado, nunca podrás perder tu salvación. Y luego alguien viene y
dice, "¿Cómo te has salvado?" Y tú dices, "Yo no lo sé". Y esto es verdad.
He entrado con muchos, donde estoy hablando con alguien y ellos me dicen, "Sí, creo que sí, no lo sé".
Y luego te presionas un poco y vas a ver el Gospelo y dices, "Oh sí, no, yo creí todo eso
cuando era niño". "¿Estás seguro de que?" "Sí, yo incluso lo pregué". "¿Puedes perder tu salvación?"
"Oh no, no lo he pensado en mucho tiempo". Así que no pueden dar una presentación del Gospelo.
Verso 7 dice, "Que no sea otro, sino el mismo que te molesta y que pervertiría el Gospelo de Cristo.
Pero si nosotros o un ángel del cielo preen cualquier otro Gospelo ante ti,
lo que hemos pregado ante ti, déjelo ser asustado, como dijimos antes.
Así que ahora, de nuevo, si algún hombre pregaba cualquier otro Gospelo ante ti,
lo que recibió, déjelo ser asustado".
Steve es como, "No estoy poniéndolo con tu boludo, tu calpado".
No estoy poniéndolo, es por eso que están mado de él.
Porque están como, "No lo entiendo, tenemos que ser circumcise".
Steve es como, "No".
"Oh, no lo entiendo, tenemos que ir al templo".
Él es como, "No".
"Oh, no lo entiendo, tenemos que usar las filáctorias".
"No".
"Pero, no lo entiendo, tenemos que orar así".
Y él es como, "No".
Y ellos son como, "Entonces no lo entiendes".
Él es como, "No, no lo entiendes".
"Deja que te lleves de vuelta al comienzo".
Es así que llega a este serenario, ¿verdad?
Él es como, "Deja que te lleves de vuelta al comienzo".
Vuelve al versículo 42, y dice,
"Entonces Dios se convirtió y los dio a obedecer al Hoste del Cielo,
como se ha escrito en el libro de los profetas Oye, la casa de Israel".
"Oye, la casa de Israel,
¿Había ofrecido a mí venganza y sacrificios por el espacio de 40 años en la madrugada?"
"¡Yay! ¡Yay!"
Dice, "Hey, tú lo hiciste, pero tú, yay, tú tomaste el tabernáculo de Moloch
y la estrella de tu Dios, Rephem,
figuras que hiciste para obedecer a ellos,
y te llevaré afuera de Babilón".
"Nuestros padres tenían el tabernáculo de la madrugada en la madrugada,
y apuntaron, hablando ante Moses,
que debería hacerlo según la moda en la que lo vio".
Mano, Steve está muy profundo aquí.
Están como, ¿no has leído que Moses realmente salió a la tierra y lo vio?
O tal vez no salió a la tierra, tal vez lo dio en una visión.
No es claro, pero sabemos que dice...
Que tenía un punto en el que debería hacerlo según la moda en la que lo vio.
Así que lo vio.
Como el Señor lo hizo,
o si lo mostró en una visión, o si lo llevó a ver.
No lo ha dado específicamente, pero lo que es específico es que Moses lo vio.
Él dice, "Pero vosotros, vosotros sois con Moloch y Renfein,
vosotros sois perdidos".
En el acto 5, verse 29, no tienes que ir ahí,
solo un par de frases atrás, ¿verdad?
Dice que "Pedro y los apóstoles respondieron y decían,
"Habíamos que obedecer a Dios, en vez de a Dios, el Dios de nuestros padres,
que creó a Jesús, quien lo trajo y sacó en un árbol.
Él se ha exaltado con su mano derecha para ser un princesa y un sabián,
para dar respeto a Israel por la pérdida de la maldad.
Y somos sus muertos de estas cosas, y así también es el Espíritu Santo,
quien les dio a ellos, que lo obedecieron.
Cuando escucharon eso, fueron cortos al corazón, y se convirtió en sacarlo.
Y dices, ¿por qué te... ¿por qué traes esto ahora mismo?
Porque si lo sacamos, ¿qué va a suceder exactamente?
El grupo que está atacando a él va a ser corto al corazón, y esta vez, lo sacan.
Así que esto ha estado construyendo.
Steven es el recibiente de este reloj que tiene contra el Señor Jesucristo.
No estaban matando a Steven, estaban matando lo que representaba a Steven.
Trataron de hacerlo a Peter, y se fallaron.
Trataron de hacerlo a John, y se fallaron.
Trataron de hacerlo a ellos dos veces, y se fallaron.
Y se dijeron "No, no vamos a fallar esta vez".
Except they did fail, because we're about to see one of the greatest parts of scripture, probably, you know, if you're just looking forward to what happens if you're going to die for Jesus Christ, don't worry.
Because you know what I like to think is that Jesus is going to stand up for any one of us, right? Not just Stephen.
And if he doesn't, it's okay, because when we get there, we get to hang out in heaven forever.
So, regardless of whether that happens or not.
Pero estamos allí en el versículo 45 que dice, "Y también nuestros padres que vinieron después trajeron a Jesús en la posesión de los gentiles,
a los que Dios trajo al frente de nuestros padres hasta los días de David,
que encontraron favor antes de Dios y querían encontrar un tablero para el dios de Jacob;
pero Solomón le construyó una casa.
Sin embargo, los más altos no duelen en templos hechos con manos que dicen que es el profeta."
Mano, él está llamándolo para todo.
Porque todavía están enfocados en los templos, ¿sabes lo que estoy diciendo?
Incluso hoy, ¿qué están todos emocionados por los templos?
Se ha estado diciendo eso desde hace 2000, o sea, mucho antes de eso, pero recuerdo escuchar
un sermeno en 2008 o 2009, y hay una web de los Red Hefers, ¿sabes?
Y de las asas que han sido salvadas por centenarios, están ahí.
Las asas están esperando porque solo tenías una seta de asas y están esperando que las asas
estrenen.
No estás en el cabeza, pastor, porque ya lo escuchaste antes, ¿sabes?
Y las personas son como, "¡La red heffa está llegando!"
"Ok."
Y son como, en el templo, ¿sabes lo que encuentro interesante?
Estos chicos son idiotas.
Hay un grupo de chicos que ya lo mencioné, pero decidieron hacer un movie sobre la locación
del templo.
Y he estado queriendo, recuerda que dije, ¿qué es el propósito?
Y pensé que no había propósito, pero en realidad hay un propósito.
Porque aquí vemos un par de cosas sucediendo.
Cuando Steve pregea, no solo pregea al reprobado y al perdido.
El pregea que algunos de ellos se salven.
Creo que eso es lo más difícil de recoger.
No recoger, pero cerrar en tu cerebro es que a veces los apóstoles o incluso los profetas
no están solo pregando al perdido, están pregando al salvado.
Significa que hay muchos cristianos y hoy mismo hay muchos cristianos.
Y estoy hablando de cristianos bíblicos, no católicos, no presbiterianos, no mormones,
no presbiterianos de Jehovah, no mormones, esas personas ya están cagadas en el cielo.
Estoy hablando de personas que se han salvado por la gracia, que se han salido del camino derrotado
y ahora van a, tal vez, a una iglesia católica, o van a...
Son como Solomon, se han salido del camino derrotado, tal vez una mujer lo tomó de la wrong way o algo así.
Y vas a tener un montón de estas personas...
¿Sabes lo que dice la Biblia en los tiempos finales?
Estaba hablando con mi esposa sobre esto, y me pregunté, ¿cuál es el propósito de este movie y estos ataques,
y todo de repente este gran cambio?
Si piensas sobre esto, ¿cuál es la presidencia de Trump definida por el segundo?
Todo de repente, antes fue como, lo que sea sobre los judíos, ahora todo es sobre los judíos.
¿No está en el Holiland o algo, hablando con la gente ahora?
Y es como "Buddy Buddies" con "Yahoo" y es como un gran negocio.
Y por cierto, yo no lo sigo tan cerca, así que podría estar un poco lejos,
pero sé que he oído los snippets aquí y allí.
Y de repente estos chicos están construyendo este movie
que quieren salir ahí, sobre la ciudad de la ley, el templo de la ley, y todo eso.
Bueno, la Biblia dice que tus hermanos...
Sabes, los hermanos se convertirán en hermanas,
y los hijos se convertirán en padres,
y la hija en la ley, contra la madre en la ley.
Y eso es, creo, la principal aplicación.
La primera es la física, ¿verdad?
Como, mis hijos se convertirán en mí.
Pero también, ¿quiénes son tus hermanos y hermanas? ¿Quién Jesus dice que son?
Los que hacen el will del Padre, ¿verdad?
Los que se han salvado, los que están en Cristo, en el Espíritu Santo.
¿Sabes qué? Hay algunos hermanos y hermanas en Cristo
que se convertirán en su propio Padre, Jesus Cristo.
¿Crees que Dios no tiene niños rebeliosos?
Literalmente, la persona que tiene, o el Dios mismo,
la persona que tiene, o la persona que tiene los niños rebeliosos, es Dios.
Porque somos todos sineros.
Así que pensé en ello, pensé en ello, y lo hizo a mí.
"Oh, este movie que estos chicos han hecho,
y este uptick en Israel y el Templo Segundo,
estos chicos son los que, básicamente,
son los cristianos de Baxlin que están ayudando a asumir el marco de la bestia
y asumir el profeta de Paul".
Ellos probablemente no lo tomarán porque la Biblia dice
que si eres salvador no lo tomarás.
Pero como un par de morones, ahí van a ayudar a asumirlo.
Y cuando sea demasiado tarde van a estar como
"Ups, no lo podemos tomar, incluso si lo ayudamos a crearlo".
Y ahora van a intentar correr de otra forma y van a ser asustados.
No van a poder durar hasta el final, como dice la Biblia.
Porque ¿dónde en tu mente es bueno apoyar algo
que va a expeditar o acelerar la construcción del Templo Segundo?
Y los bapistas independientes creen en cristianos que han oído la Biblia muchas veces.
La última cosa que quiero hacer es ayudar a cualquier cosa que oscure
la abominación de desolación
o el Anticristo
o el falsificado profeta
o el bestia, nada de eso.
No voy a estar como "hey, ¿sabes qué?
tengo un proyecto para ti,
vamos a encontrar el lugar correcto del templo
y luego podemos construir el templo
muy, muy, muy rápido".
¿Por qué? Porque es importante en la Biblia.
Sí, es importante en la Biblia
porque cuando el templo aumenta,
¿sabes quién aumenta? ¡Nosotros!
La Biblia dice que le dieron poder,
que tenia poder, básicamente, perseguir a los santos.
All over the world, there was nowhere that the saints could go.
Like, once the beast comes,
we have nowhere to go.
We just have to preach the gospel
under strong persecution.
They did it!
Let's go there in verse 49. We've only got ten verses left
and we're done. It says, "Heaven is my throne."
Well, let me, let me just kind of,
because I want to make sure that I said this up correctly.
It says, "How be it, the most high dwelleth not
in temples made with hands,
as stayeth the prophet." They're focused on the actual
temple when they need to be focused on the spiritual
temple, and verse 49 says, "Heaven is my throne,
and earth is my footstool.
What house will you build me, saith the
Lord, or what is the place of my rest?
Has not my hand made all these
things?" And then verse 51
is where I really want to spend some time,
although I've already spent a lot of time, so this is actually
pretty easy, but verse 51, it
says, "Ye stiff-necked
and uncircumcised in heart and
ears. Ye do always resist
the Holy Ghost, as your fathers
did, so do ye." This is the
only part of the sermon that gets
really hard, but by then, you know what?
They picked up the subtle signs, right?
He's like, "Hey, your fathers, you guys
were focused on circumcision of the flesh,
you guys were focused on the temple,
you don't even understand what Moses understood,
you don't get about Abraham,
you don't get about all this." And he gets
here, he says, "Ye stiff-necked
and uncircumcised in heart."
So he's like, "Just in case you didn't get
the covenant of circumcision in the beginning
of my sermon, let me make sure I clear
up what I was talking about when I said circumcision."
Because here it would probably happen
when he first started preaching, he said, "Hey,
God gave Abraham the covenant of
circumcision, and you know what? A bunch of these
false Pharisees were like, "Yeah,
yeah." And Stephen's like, "Oh, they don't even know
the end of my sermon." Right? Some of them
got it though, they were like, "Ooh, I think we know where
he's going with this." And by the time he gets here, he's like, "Hey,
ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised
in heart and ears. Ye do always resist
the Holy Ghost as your fathers did also,
I mean, as your fathers did, so you do ye.
Which of the prophets have not
your fathers persecuted?" What?
Man, he's calling them out hardcore.
"And they have slain them, which showed
before of the coming of the just one,
of whom you now have been betrayers and
murderers, who have received the
law by the disposition of angels
and have not kept it.
When they heard these things, they were
cut to the heart, and they gnashed
on him with their teeth."
What is this a picture of?
They're hellbound. It's a big multitude.
I mean, it's a group of people, so it's probably the leadership.
Those guys are reprobate.
They're cut to the heart, and they're gnashing.
They're getting a head start on hell.
And we already read about Peter, and
they were cut in the heart earlier in Acts.
And they took counsel to slay them, but they didn't.
But here, in verse 55, it says,
"But being full of the Holy Ghost,
there it is again. Stephen is being
full of the Holy Ghost. Look up, step fastly
into heaven, and saw the glory of God,
and Jesus standing
on the right hand of God."
Now we know that the Bible tells us that
he's seated at the right hand of God.
So that means that Jesus stood up. I love
this part. This is probably my favorite part
because I remember being
so scared, especially when I first got saved,
of like, "What if I get decapitated?"
or "What if they kill me for the cause of Christ?"
You know, nobody wants to think that they're going to be murdered.
Right? But then you read this and you're like,
"You know what? Maybe it would be pretty cool
to get killed for the cause
of Christ." Knowing that when you look up,
I mean, how cool it is to just
get that veil removed
and you look up and you see
Jesus standing up at the right hand of God.
Right? And it said, "Behold,
I see the heavens open."
And then he preaches that and he says,
"And it said, 'Behold,
I see the heavens open
and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.'"
Man, they must
be thinking, "This guy's nuts."
Some of them, though, are probably like, "Ooh."
You know who probably thought this?
Paul. I believe Paul was pricked at his heart
here. I've preached on that
before, but for me, this is just my opinion.
The Bible doesn't say it. But why
would you introduce Paul at this event?
And we will talk about it next week.
It's in verse 1 of chapter 8.
But literally, Paul is introduced to us
as Saul right after Stephen
is killed, right? In verse 77,
"Then they cried out with a loud voice and
stopped their ears and ran up
on him with one accord."
You know what this always reminds me of?
What do kids do sometimes when they're annoyed
with each other, right? You did it.
No, you did it. No, you did it.
Remember, kids have done that, right?
When they don't want to hear
anything anymore. Hey, stop it.
I don't want to hear it anymore. No, you're going to hear it.
I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear it.
That's what they're doing. It says,
"Then they cried out with a loud voice and
stopped their ears and ran up upon him
with one accord, and they cast him out of the
city and stoned him,
and the witnesses laid down their clothes
at the young man's feet whose name was Saul."
Oh, I'm sorry, I got ahead of my... I guessed it.
"And they stoned Stephen calling upon God
and saying, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.'
And he kneeled down and cried with a loud
voice, 'Lord, lay not this
sin to their charge.'
And when he had said
this, he fell asleep." So they're stoning
him, and even as they're stoning him,
he loves him so much and he's like, "Hey,
I don't even want you to lay this sin on him
in case it can get saved." That's compassion
right there. I mean, he preached
such a good sermon. I mean, I guess
that would be the way to go out, right, pastor?
As a preacher, you're preaching the best sermon
you've ever preached in your life. The Lord has finally
laid it on you. You feel the whole thing.
You're on fire. Somebody gets up
and in modern day they just pull out
a 45 or a 9
millimeter Glock and just shoot you
dead. And as you're dying, you're like,
"Lord, just don't lay that on their charge."
As you're looking up and Jesus is there
ready to pull you up. John 15,
verse 10, you don't have to turn it. This is the last
I mean, I'll go. Stephen had true love.
See, the problem
is that people don't preach true love.
True love is preaching the word of God unfiltered.
It says, "If you keep my commandments,
you shall abide in my love. Even as
I have kept my father's commandment and abide in his love.
These things have I spoken unto you that my joy
might remain in you and that your joy
might be full. This is my commandment, that
you love one another as I have loved you.
Greater love has no man
than this, that a man lay down his life
for his friends." Stephen laid it.
I really believe Stephen is the fire, the spark
that led us to Paul. I don't think
that we have a Paul without a Stephen.
You'd think that was not an impactful
series of events. I mean,
you're a stall and you're persecuting the
church and all of a sudden
this young man full of the Holy
Ghost and full of power
and full of faith comes up and
preaches this sermon and you know the
scripture, you're like, "Ooh, he's
cutting my heart." And then you watch
as they stone him and then the Lord
comes and it's like, "Why do you kick
at the pricks? We'll see this later on."
So we shouldn't be afraid to die.
We shouldn't be afraid to preach the word of God.
God's with us no matter what. But I mean,
honestly, it'd just be great.
I guess the lesson we could learn is Stephen
was full of everything because he didn't
need anything on this earth. He wasn't worried
about the circumcision. He wasn't worried about
the temple. He wasn't worried about how much
tithe they were giving. He wasn't worried
if he had a career or if he had a nice
house, you know, or if his
health was good. He's just like, "I'm just going to preach the word.
Come with me." And they didn't kill him.
They killed his body. I mean, that is
one of the coolest stories in the Bible.
If that doesn't pump you up
for the week, I don't know what will. I mean,
to just literally have Jesus stand up for you.
Nowhere else in the Bible do you see Jesus
stand up for somebody when they're
dying. Peter was crucified.
Saul died. The Apostles all
died. You know, we've seen
Daniel and the lions then. We saw,
you know, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Now that's pretty cool, but at no point
do we see Jesus stand up
in the right hand of the Father to receive.
And Stephen, that's how you know he was really a humble guy.
Like, even in his death, he's like,
"Don't lay this sin up to their charge."
There's only one other person that says, "Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do."
He was so moved when he saw Jesus, he remembered
those words and mimicked them.
He did like his father, Jesus did.
Let's close in on our prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord,
thank you so much for today. Thank you for your blessings,
Lord. Thank you for Acts
7 and we get excited.
But honestly, I mean, to live that
the only way we could live that
and be excited to know we're going to die for you
is to be full of power, full
of faith and full of the Holy Ghost, Lord.
Fill us completely with
your word so that we may remove
all filthy
malice, just all
the sin in our life to the best
of our ability. We know we're always going to
remain sinners, but our goal is that we
would be blameless before you, Lord.
And Lord, thank you for the lesson.
Just help us to have a good week. Be with all
that weren't able to be here today. In Jesus'
name we pray. Amen.