The First Martyr
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Big Idea for the Series: In the book of Acts, we see God advancing his Kingdom by his Spirit through his Church.
FCF: There will always be people who resist the Spirit, refuse to believe the truth, and persecute those who declare it to them. But, Jesus is present with those who suffer for his name, and he will give them the grace to endure it well.
Introduction: If you pay attention to what is going on in the world, you’ll see lots of examples of persecution in the world around us. In Nigeria, Boko Haram and radical Islamists have been killing and torturing Christians for years. In Iran, Christians are seen as a threat to the Islamic government, so they’re imprisoned or executed. In China, churches have to register with the government and agree to abide by the official doctrines provided by the government—which flagrantly conflict with the Bible—or face prison or labor camps. Christians are excluded from business and subject to all kinds of discriminations or just quietly disappeared in the night.
Even in our own backyard, most of us watched in horror as protesters claiming the name of Jesus invaded a church in Minneapolis a couple weeks ago, disrupting worship and angrily shouting accusations at the pastors and congregants. Thankfully, no one was injured in that despicable display, but can you imagine being in that situation? To drive this a little closer to home, you may not realize it but that church was one of our sister churches—a Southern Baptist church plant. A portion of our offerings go to the Southern Baptist Cooperative Program which helps to fund church plants like that one.
The pastor of that church was a graduate from the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, a sister seminary to the one I attended.
The actions of protestors yesterday at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minneapolis were utterly shameful. Please join Charlotte and me in praying for their pastor and Southeastern alumnus Jonathan Parnell, that he would continue to lead with boldness. Pray for Cities Church, that they would remain steadfast in the face of opposition. Pray especially for the children and teenagers, who likely were traumatized by the events. And pray for their community, that the hope of the gospel would shine even more clearly. Indeed, as Jonathan stated so clearly in his comments, "the hope of the world is Jesus Christ."
Danny Akin, President of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
And the sad fact is that actions like this are likely to grow more and more common. Some of the protesters that invaded that church claimed to be Christians and thought they were doing what Jesus would do.
2 They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.
And I’m not interested right now in debating about immigration policies or ICE or anything like that. My point in bringing this up is simply to illustrate a point—persecution of the church, be it church shootings or church invasions, is likely to continue and get worse as our society takes a nosedive deeper and deeper into rebellion against God. And, if it were to come to you, how would you handle it? If it had been our church that an angry mob of protesters invaded, if it had been your face they were yelling in, if it was you they were accusing of injustice and racism and being a hypocrite, how would you respond?
8 And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. 9 Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. 10 But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. 11 Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” 12 And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, 13 and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, 14 for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.” 15 And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
1 And the high priest said, “Are these things so?” 2 And Stephen said:
“Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3 and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’ 4 Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living. 5 Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot’s length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child. 6 And God spoke to this effect—that his offspring would be sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them four hundred years. 7 ‘But I will judge the nation that they serve,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.’ 8 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.
9 “And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him 10 and rescued him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household. 11 Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food. 12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit. 13 And on the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh. 14 And Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his kindred, seventy-five persons in all. 15 And Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, he and our fathers, 16 and they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.
17 “But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt 18 until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph. 19 He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, so that they would not be kept alive. 20 At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God’s sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father’s house, 21 and when he was exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. 22 And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.
23 “When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. 24 And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. 25 He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand. 26 And on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other?’ 27 But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 At this retort Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.
30 “Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. 31 When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord: 32 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and did not dare to look. 33 Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.’
35 “This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. 37 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’ 38 This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us. 39 Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt, 40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. 42 But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:
“ ‘Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices,
during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
43 You took up the tent of Moloch
and the star of your god Rephan,
the images that you made to worship;
and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’
44 “Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen. 45 Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David, 46 who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. 47 But it was Solomon who built a house for him. 48 Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says,
49 “ ‘Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord,
or what is the place of my rest?
50 Did not my hand make all these things?’
51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, 53 you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”
54 Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. 55 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. 56 And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57 But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. 58 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. 59 And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
Prayer
Now, as we read this long passage, chances are very good that some of you got a bit lost. Stephen is standing in front of the Sanhedrin court in 6:11 on trial for blasphemy, and they ask him if the accusations are true—
12 And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, 13 and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, 14 for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.”
1 And the high priest said, “Are these things so?”
And then Stephen responds with story time. And the story is a long, meandering recap of the history of the people of Israel all the way from Abraham up until the present. He doesn’t seem to be answering their question at all.
And then, in vv. 51-53, Stephen thunders at the Sanhedrin elders accusing them of stubbornly persecuting God’s people, and then he is drug out and stoned to death. And even for most of us who know all the stories that Stephen has just recounted, it can be a bit confusing trying to figure out how his story time connects with the accusations against him and the accusations he levels at the Sanhedrin, and how this all ends up with Stephen dead.
So, I’m going to try to help you out a little bit by working backwards from his conclusion to show you how the rest of his sermon points to that conclusion, and why it upset them so much. The main point in Stephen’s sermon is what he says in vv. 51-53:
51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, 53 you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”
And his point—the point of all his story telling and everything he says—is this:
Those who resist the Spirit, refuse to believe the truth, and persecute those who declare it to them are following an age-old pattern of rebellion against God.
Those who resist the Spirit, refuse to believe the truth, and persecute those who declare it to them are following an age-old pattern of rebellion against God.
He makes this point very clear in vv. 51-53:
51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, 53 you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”
To prove his point, Stephen retells the story of Israel, picking some key moments out of the story to use as comparisons to what the Pharisees and Sadducees of his day have done. He is demonstrating the pattern of God’s enemies rebelling against him and saying: “This is you.”
Now, there are a number of illustrations that demonstrate this point in Stephen’s sermon and Israel’s history, but we’re going to focus on just a handful for the sake of time.
Illustration 1: Joseph’s brothers
Illustration 1: Joseph’s brothers
9 “And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him
(The story of Joseph sold into slavery is found in Genesis 37-50)
The patriarchs sold Joseph into slavery out of jealousy of God’s favor on him
Joseph was the youngest of his 11 brothers, but he was his dad’s favorite.
4 But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.
Then, Joseph has a dream in which his brothers and even his parents are his servants, and he tells the dream to his brothers:
8 His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.
And he has another dream with the same kind of message, which, predictably, gets the same angry, jealous reaction from his brothers.
Finally, they get tired of him and sell him into slavery. And of course, all works out well in the end for Joseph, but not before some very difficult times that he has to endure.
The point that Stephen is making when he brings up the story of Joseph is this—just as Joseph’s brothers’ jealousy of his leadership made them commit violence against him, just as they resisted God’s ordained leader, refused to believe the truth, and persecuted Joseph, so the Pharisees and Sadducees had done the same to Jesus and were now about to do the same to Stephen.
Then, he tells another story...
Illustration 2: Israel’s rejection of Moses in Egypt
Illustration 2: Israel’s rejection of Moses in Egypt
Moses was a Hebrew who was raised in Pharaoh’s household as a prince. One day he saw an Egyptian severely beating a Hebrew slave and Moses killed the Egyptian to save the slave. So, as Stephen points out...
He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand. And on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other?’ But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’
(Story of Moses’ rejection by the Hebrews is found in Ex. 2:11-15 and in Exodus & Numbers)
The Israelites in slavery rejected Moses’ initial attempts to bring them deliverance and they would go on to reject him and God over and over again throughout Exodus and Numbers.
35 “This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years.
And even after Moses parts the Red Sea and they walk through on dry ground and watch their enemies get swept away in the same waters, they continue to complain over and over and over again.
Examples of the Israelites rebelling against God in the wilderness: Ex. 5:20-21; 14:11-12; 15:24; 16:2-3; 17:2-3; 32:1-6; Num. 11:4-6; 14:2-4; 16:1-3; 16:41; 20:2-5; 21:4-5
No matter how many miracles Moses performed, no matter how many signs were given that he was God’s appointed leader over them, they continually rejected him because, in their hearts, they rejected God. And one of the clearest examples of that is found in the instance Stephen references in Acts 7:39-41 where they make a golden calf and even call it YHWH:
39 Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt, 40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands.
What does all this have to do with the Sanhedrin? Well, Moses had prophesied that God would one day raise up another prophet like Moses to lead the people:
37 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’
And that prophet like Moses was none other than Jesus himself. Like Moses, he performed sign after sign proving his approval from God. Like Moses, he came to lead his people out of slavery (to sin) and give them salvation. And just as Moses was rejected by the elders of the people in the wilderness, so Jesus was rejected by the elders in Jerusalem.
They resisted the presence of the Spirit when Moses came down from the mountain with his face glowing from the presence of God, and they resist the Spirit’s presence in the glowing face of Stephen. They refused to believe in the wilderness despite sign after sign, and they refused to believe in Jesus despite sign after sign. They persecuted Moses, and they persecuted Jesus and his followers. Because at the end of the day, they’d rather die serving their idols than repent and trust God.
Illustration 3: Jewish fixation on the letter of the law instead of the substance of the law (7:48-49)
Illustration 3: Jewish fixation on the letter of the law instead of the substance of the law (7:48-49)
48 Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says,
49 “ ‘Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord,
or what is the place of my rest?
In verses 44 and following, Stephen talks about the tabernacle (“tent”) and then the temple that Solomon ultimately built.
Now, God had given instructions for both. He gave very precise instructions for the construction of the tabernacle tent in Leviticus and, later on, he gave David and Solomon very specific instructions on how to build his Temple.
The tabernacle and temple were visible displays of God’s presence. It was the divinely appointed meeting place where God met with the priests.
But, the problem was that over the course of the Old Testament, the people of Israel became obsessed with the precision of the instructions given about the temple and the sacrifices but totally neglected the actual purpose of all of it. The temple was supposed to represent God’s presence with his people. But they started caring more about the building than they did about God’s presence.
They were focused on the house of God instead of the presence of God.
They were focused on the house of God instead of the presence of God.
First century Jewish leaders obsess over the temple buildings but completely miss the deeper theological truths that the temple points to.
That’s illustrated very profoundly when Jesus clears the temple the week of his crucifixion, because they had made it into something it was never intended to be:
13 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”
And Jesus was actually quoting from the OT—hundreds of years prior—where God was rebuking Israel for the same exact thing:
9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, 10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—only to go on doing all these abominations? 11 Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the Lord.
And here is the great irony. The temple was supposed to be the representation of God’s presence with his people, and yet, Stephen is standing before the Sanhedrin court—which met in the Temple—and his face is glowing from the presence of the Spirit of God, and yet they are more concerned with the building than they are the actual presence of God.
15 And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
They haven’t experienced the presence of the Spirit of God in the Temple since the Babylonian invasion in 600 BC; yet, when the Spirit descends at Pentecost on the followers of Jesus, they reject it. When the Spirit fills Stephen and his face glows visibly because of it, when the Spirit of the Lord is literally staring them in the face, they reject Him and try to murder him.
Then, in v. 51, he references circumcision.
They were focused on the physical act of circumcision instead of the spiritual reality of circumcision.
They were focused on the physical act of circumcision instead of the spiritual reality of circumcision.
God had given Abraham the covenant of circumcision as an external sign of his special internal relationship with God
8 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision...
7 And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.
The covenant of circumcision was given by God as a marker that that person and his family were in a special, covenant relationship with God himself.
10 This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised...13 both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant.
But, as we see in Stephen’s sermon, they had embraced the physical reality of circumcision but had rejected the relationship with God that it was meant to depict.
Again, the irony is so thick you could cut it with a knife. Can you imagine being so hard-hearted and rebellious against God that you’d rather embrace the physical act of circumcision than the spiritual reality of a relationship with God?
That’s the point that Stephen is making here. They’re circumcised physically—every one of the men in that Sanhedrin court has gone through that process and carried it out upon their sons. But they refuse to allow God to circumcise their hearts—to cut away their sin and rebellion.
51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.
At the end of the day, the Jewish leaders were fixated on the external symbols of a relationship with God but had completely rejected the substance of the internal relationship with God that those symbols were meant to represent.
Why? Because sin is irrational. And some of you today are no different. You come to church, you sing the songs, you play the part, but it’s all an act. An external, empty, hollow, meaningless act. And you’ll jump through all kinds of hoops and self-inflicted pain to keep up that ruse, because you’d rather die in the wilderness clutching your idols than to bow the knee to the God of the Universe and surrender your heart.
51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, 53 you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”
I don’t know who needs to hear this today, but hear me well. If you resist the Spirit of God, refuse to believe the truth, and persecute those who proclaim it to you, judgment is coming for you.
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
So, that is Stephen’s sermon in a nutshell. Now, for those on the other side of this equation. Perhaps you feel as though you’re surrounded by unbelievers who are waiting for you to stumble and fall. Perhaps you stand falsely accused before those who are jealous of you because the favor of God is upon your life.
I wish I could tell you that Jesus always opens the prison doors and delivers his people from their persecutors, but that just isn’t the case. Just as Jesus was crucified, so will his followers suffer. And, as Jesus promised:
16 You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. 17 You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 By your endurance you will gain your lives.
The good news in the midst of your suffering is that...
Jesus is present with those who suffer for his name.
Jesus is present with those who suffer for his name.
As Stephen finishes his sermon, the Sanhedrin fulfills his prophetic words by doing to him exactly what he has accused them of. They drag him out of the temple, out of the city, and stone him. But, look at what Stephen sees as this is all happening:
55 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. 56 And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
Stephen got to see a glimpse into heaven. He got to see the glory of God and Jesus standing there waiting for him to welcome him home.
I don’t know about you, but at that point, nothing else matters. If I get to see that, please don’t leave me here on this earth! I can’t imagine catching a glimpse of that and then having to stay here.
If the thought of persecution frightens you or gives you anxiety, let the presence of Jesus comfort you. There is nothing man can do to you that can overcome the presence of Christ.
6 The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?
As Paul sat in prison, writing his final letter to his young protege, Timothy, waiting to be executed, this is what he had to say:
6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.
And let the words of Jesus himself in Revelation fill you with peace and comfort:
10 Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.
And you don’t have to be afraid because...
The Spirit of Jesus enables the people of Jesus to suffer well.
The Spirit of Jesus enables the people of Jesus to suffer well.
60 And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
You don’t have to muster up the strength and courage, you just have to rely upon the Lord. He will help you to suffer well. Just as Jesus forgave those who persecuted him, we can also—through the power of Christ—forgive those who do us wrong.
Benediction
Benediction
6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.
