Be Faithful

Introduction

Introduce self

Dismiss Children

Great time with the men this morning, so many good conversations with people last week, Thankful for the way our church family has come together to help one another and the ministry as a whole.

I’m looking forward continuing conversations with you as we step into this next season of ministry.

Life often calls us to be what the topic of our message is today, and that is faithful.

Last week we saw in scripture how Stephen had went back to people he could relate to and preached the gospel to them. They did not receive him well. They secretely pursuaded others behind his back to be against him, then riled others up to arrest him, and then took him to the judges.

At this point, due to the sinful practices of those who were against him, the priest are all but convinced of his guilt.

Today we are going to see how he responds when given a chance to speak.

Before we go into that, I want to direct your attention to the end of his speech here and see what his purpose in all of this is. We are going to spend today and the next two weeks in his speech to the priests and those around him. And without context we could misunderstand what’s going on.

Look with me at verses 51-53 to see what this speechw as all about.

Acts 7:51–53 “51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. 52 Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers: 53 Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.”

Now, if Stephen just said this we would say ah ok..that makes sense. He insulted them, he is angry, yea…I get that.

But this is at the end, this isnt’ personal. Notice he didn’t call out any of those aruond him that he probably knew. He didn’t retaliate with hate or vitriole, he goes through a whole speech that we are going to dive into and then calls them to repent…not about arresting him, not about secretely pursuading people behind his back, he calls them out for their sin against God.

But he doesn’t do so without first speaking truth in love.

Character- Stiffnecked people

Before we get into our text today, let’s get to know who stephen is talking to a little better.

Last week we learned they are hellenistic jews that are roman citizens who earned their freedom. Now he is standing before the Sanhedran. This is a council of elites in the religious society that provide judgement over people.

Stephen is before them and the peopel who brought him there.

And at the end of his speech he calls them a stiffnecked people. to be stiffnecked meanas to be obstinate or stubborn. Unyielding. There are times to be unyielding, but when it comes to the Holy Spirit, that ain’t one of them.

He says they have uncircumsized hearts and ears.

This is in reference to the Abrahamic coveneant we will see in just a moment. God gave the sign of circumcision to Abraham as a reminder of the covenant that was made with him for the land in Israel. It was an unconditional covenant, meaning that there were no conditions put on Abraham to fulfill the promise. God said he would give the land to Abraham’s descendants. They didn’t have to be circumsized but that was the reminder to the people of what was waiting for them when the time came.

By identifying their hearts and ears this way, he is basically telling them they are not following God, they are not listening to the Lord and His Word. They are resisting Him

Problem-Resisting the Holy Spirit

My wife became one of the 4th grade teachers at her work this year and while she has come home and shared stories of being a TA for the last 3 years, I’m now hearing them from the teachers perspective.

She asks how can she connect, help them learn, and she loves what she does. I on the other hadn would go crazy if I were a 4th grade teacher.

There have been conversations about how some of them have days where they are resisting the instruction. She told me a story the other day of a boy who instead of doing the work and learning, was making wolverine blades with pencils.

She would correct and he would work a bit and then distracted again…I get that.

He was resisting the instruction and the work that needed to be done for his mind to absorb the content to grow.

This is what we are about to see Stephen talking about these people and the nation of Israel doing for the entire time they have been following God. These people been people’n since they had the chance to people.

What happens when we resist the Holy Spirit though?

Agitated-Persecute others

Acts 7:52 “52 Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:”

They persecuted others, they murdered the prophets.

While I hope none of you have plans for that…

This is what Solomon wrote about happening in Proverbs 4.

Proverbs 4:20–27 “20 My son, attend to my words; Incline thine ear unto my sayings. 21 Let them not depart from thine eyes; Keep them in the midst of thine heart. 22 For they are life unto those that find them, And health to all their flesh. 23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; For out of it are the issues of life. 24 Put away from thee a froward mouth, And perverse lips put far from thee. 25 Let thine eyes look right on, And let thine eyelids look straight before thee. 26 Ponder the path of thy feet, And let all thy ways be established. 27 Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: Remove thy foot from evil.”

Solomon told his son to guard his heart. Not by isolating and letting no one in…but by watchign what comes out. Know who else said something about that?

Matthew 15:11 “11 Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.”

Jesus said it’s what you say that will cause the issues.

Solomon said not to have a difficult mouth, don’t have perverse lips and speaking profaine things. Consider the direction of your life based on your wordsa nd actions and stay away from evil.

I said last week we are not always sTephen nor are we always the jews. However, when we try the Spirits by the word of God we will see how to respond to situatoins. Adn if we resit the holy spirit, we not only hurt ourselves and our testimony, we hurt others physically and emotionally.

Guide-Stephen and Abraham

Thankfully the Lord gave us men like Stephen and Abaraham to show us how to respond, call us out whenw e don’t and learn from them as they follow God.

They stayed faithful through difficulty and trials. Why though?

What did Stephen go into that he hoped would help him save his life? His reputation?….nothing…he didn’t defend himself at all. He surrendered himself to the Lord and to the people

He goes into a sermon basically about the nation of Israel and their relationship with God that goes all the way back to the beginning with Abraham.

I beleive we see Stephen hit 3 main thigns about the Lord to call these people back to Him and that is this: He is Faithful, He is Sovereign, and He delivers

Journey-Acts 7:1-8

Let’s go back to the beginning of Chapter 7 and start our three week journey through Stephen’s sermon.

Acts 7:1–4 “1 Then said the high priest, Are these things so? 2 And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran, 3 And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee. 4 Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell.”

1. Being Faithful takes Faith

I know, sounds crazy but let’s talk about it.

Exegete: First we hear the high priests ask him about the accusations “are these things so?”

He gives Stephen the floor to defend himself. And what does he do?

Men, borthers, fathers…He has been lied about and forcefully arrested by the people that are around him. he doesn’t lash out, he doesn’t accuse them, he is, what I would call angry but sinning not. He is gaurding his heart like we see in Proverbs. Instead of making this about him, he makes it about the peole listening. Not to change their view of himself, but to change their view of God and their relationship with Him.

He goes back to the begininng of the Israelites relationship with God…Abraham.

It is beleived Abraham was in a polythesitic culture and got called out of it. HE was told…leave your land, leave your family, leave all that you know, and go to a place you’ve never been to before and I’ll give your descendants the land.

That would be the equivalent of God saying to you “Leave bristol, go to the middle of montana, and start over.” Go to Africa, and start over. From Abraham to Paul, God often calls people to move. God calls some to stay, but he also calls some to go…

But he doesn’t call them to go and give a detailed plan. he doesn’t tell Abraham, hey your going to go through egypt, your going to lie about your wife being your sister, your going to see sodom destroyed, your going to lose your nephew for awhile. YOur going to have kids at an old age, your going to have to send your son and mistress off into the wilderness…your wife is going to get upset with you, your going to have to deal with fighting people…

He didn’t have details. What he had was “Your time here is over…go”

He had to take a step of faith.

Illustration:

Every week we preach the gospel here. We talk about salvation by grace through faith. WE know that we are saved by faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of JEsus.

But that is not the end of our faith journey, that is the beginning.

Hebrews 11:6 “6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

Pleasing God requires faith. Are you living by faith? Are you obeying without fully understanding? Are you acting in accordance to the faith God has given you or are you doing what you think is right?

Faith can be translated as trust right?

Let me get levi, sean, dave, and rafal up here for a moment please.

TRUST FALL DEMONSTRATION

Apply:

Why do we see people do this and question them? Why do we say things like “Well, I wonder what’s really going on?” Maybe they are just faithful to JEsus. Sure, maybe there is mroe to the story but that doesn’t mean they aren’t moving by faith.

Why do we not live like this? This is pleasing to God. This is the call on the Chrisitan life.

It’s not a call to comfort. It’s not a call to everything being our way. It’s a call of surrender, it’s a call of sacrifice, and it’s a call to faith, to trust.

I’m afraid one of the reasons that we don’t live by faith is because we think faith is the absence of doubt.

Living by faith is not the absence of doubt, it’s moving forward in the presence of it.

2. Be faithful through doubt

Acts 7:5–7 “5 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 a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child. 6 And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years. 7 And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place.”

Exegete:

Abraham didn’t get the inheritance his seed was promised. however the seed, the nation of israel woudl not even have the land until after they were in a foreign land for four hundred years. They were slaves and in bondage to the Israelites for generations.

We talk about long suffering being a week, a month, a year, the people of Israel went generations awaiting the fulfillment of the promise.

You don’t think they didn’t have doubts about God rescuing them? I would have. We have doubts about God getting us through the week.

Yet they as a nation, remained faithful. We have no records of an uprising, no records of a rebellion. Not until Moses came as directed by God.

Being faithful isn’t without doubt, it’s choosing to trust the faithful one through the Doubt.

Illustrate:

We live for an infinite God capable of all things. We have been saved by the creator of the universe. We have His Holy Spirit within us. And with all of that being true, we are still a finite being that is impoerfect and fallable.

And unless your a narcisist, you know that.

That’s why you doubt. Your probably not doubting God’s ability, your doubting your own.

And that’s not wrong, I think it’s actualyl healthy. That’s when God can use you. It’s not just about being weak, because we are, it’s about recognizing that we are and accepting it.

When we can step back and say “God, I can’t do this. You have to.”

I think he steps back and goes “Finally, now I can work.”

2 Corinthians 12:9 “9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

You see ? I believe it is easier for us to recognize our need for Jesus when we don’t have him than to recognzie our daily need for Him.

Spurgeon said

It is easier to get a sinner out of his sin than a self-righteous person out of his self-righteousness. Conceit of our own righteousness sticks to us as the skin to the flesh.

Apply:

Abraham had a journey through the wilderness to the promised land. He encountered situations that would have wiped him physically and emotionally. He was asked to sacrifice his son and as we see in scripture was planning to do it.

His descendants would face generations of salvery at the ahdn of the God who called them to Himself. You understand that? Turthfully the Egyptians were the medium by which God ensalved the Israelites. It was part of his plan. He told it to Abraham, Joseph’s great grandfather, that his descendants would be enslaved.

The bumps in the road that we aproach and try to control were never in our control in the first place. God knew about that bump in your life before you ever thought it could be a possibliity.

Be faithful through your doubt, becuase HE is faithful, not because you are.

3. Be faithful because He is faithful

Acts 7:8 “8 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision: and so Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs.”

Exegete: I don’t need to go into detail about circumcision but I do wander if you understand why that covenant was given.

Let’s start with gaining an understanding of what the abrahamic covenant is.

Genesis 12:1–3 “1 Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: 2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”

Ok, this is the covenant. Descendants, Land, and Protection.

And then we have the ceremony for it in Gen 15.

It’s a long passage but here is a synopsis of what happens.

Animals split in half, walk between. God knocks abraham out, only one to walk through, unconditional covenant.

Then

Genesis 17:9–14 “9 And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations. 10 This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. 11 And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. 12 And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed. 13 He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. 14 And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.”

Now, this is to Abraham and the Israelites and does not have anything to do with salvation.

Notice who this covenant was too though…not just abraham, but to his seed.

It was the reminder, of God’s faithfulness. I believe it was something that reminded the Israelites in egypt, every time a boy was born, 8 days later, they remembered the promise made by God to Abraham and them as his seed.

Illustrate:

Symbolism abounds in many cultures, and the Israelite culture is no different. 21st century Christianity is no different either.

We have the empty cross, we have an empty tomb, we have wwjd bracelets, or the new one dwjd “Do what Jesus did”

We have scriptur ein our homes, cool verse images delivred to our phones, we have our bibles, and various things that we can look to that reminds of God.

Why? Becasue we willdoubt, we will forget who He is and what He has done makign us question what He can do.

What He will do may not be done your way, but it will be done. Are you surrendered to His way or are you fighting for it to be your way?

Apply:

DO you pray “not my will but yours be done” or are you continually praying for Him to work things out to be done the way you want.

The Israelites had this reminder for 400 years of slavery. Why? Why woudl God give them this?

He knew they woudl need it. They would need the reminder that He is faithful.

Resolution-Choose faithfulness

He was fiathful to the Israelites becuase he said He would be.

He is faithful to the church, becuase HE said he would be.

By the way, just as the nation of Israel did not belong to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, or the 12 patriachs, or the prophets, or the kings, or the priests, or even the people of the nation of ISrael

God’s church, this church, does not belong to me, the deacons, the lay staff, the volunteers, the long time members, the short term members, the regular attenders, or the guests. This is God’s church and He is doing a great job with it becuase that’s all He can do. Are we ready to let Him?

Liberty will be a thriving church when we relenquish control of it over to God. How it becomes a thriving church, that’s up to God, not us.

Our lives are not our own. Your life belongs to God. What would happen if you turned it over to Him and lived by faith?

STephen is in a position to choose SPirit or choose flesh. He chose spirit and He when provided the opportunity to speak, didn’t speak about himself, he spoke about Christ.

Who do you talk about? Jesus? Yourself? Others?

When life gets tough, when thigns go wrong, is God not fiathful?

You can be faithful to Him becuase He will be fiathful to you.