Cameron: 00:06

Heavenly father, we thank you for our brother Luke and the gift that you have given to him to proclaim your word, Lord. And we pray, Father, that his preparation, his heart, Lord, and his character would be exactly, Lord, the fuel that the Holy Spirit needs to take the truth of your word and bring it directly into our soul. Father, we thank you for his ministry among us. We thank you, Lord, not just for what he does, but for who he is. In Jesus' name.

Cameron: 00:37

Amen.

Luke: 00:38

Amen. Well, hello, everyone. I've already been well introduced, so today we're going to continue in our sermon series in the book of Acts. And we've come to one of the you know, there's a lot of stories in Acts, and a lot of them are well known, but this is probably one of the at least in my mind, a more well known one. This is the story of Stephen, the church's very first martyr.

Luke: 01:11

And maybe you've heard that word martyr before. And for, like, the sake of clarity, I want to define what exactly is a martyr. A martyr is someone who suffers death for the sake of Jesus or the Gospel. There's different ways we could define it and talk about it. Sometimes people talk about martyrs as people who also experience persecution.

Luke: 01:34

For the sake of today, simply going to be talking about very much this more limited understanding, someone who suffers death for the sake of Jesus or the Gospel. And a martyr, like that's a you know, you look at that, and that's not really an English word. It comes from the Greek. The Greek word simply means witness. Someone to be a witness to something.

Luke: 02:02

Someone who was unwilling to not to recant or to withdraw or to stand down from what they believed in. And Stephen is the church's very first example of this. And so question we've got to do as we kind of wrestle through is what does this have to do with us all these years later? As I was thinking about persecution and martyrdom, I was reminded of Jesus' words that He said to His disciples on His last night before His crucifixion. In John chapter 15, Jesus decided to be really encouraging, and he decided to tell his disciples these words in John chapter 15 verses 18 through 21.

Luke: 02:51

He says, If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. But because you were not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember that the word I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.

Luke: 03:19

If they kept my word, they would also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name because they do not know him who sent me. It's an interesting passage. Right? Jesus is like, the world will hate you.

Luke: 03:37

The world has hated me. They will hate you. Now, if I'm honest, I'll be honest, and I think this is a problem. Not the only person in this room. I have received very little hate for being a Jesus follower.

Luke: 03:54

Just I haven't. Right? We live in a time and a place where being a Christian is not necessarily out of the ordinary. It's we're we're not a persecuted religious group in The United States. We're classified there's a I was doing some research.

Luke: 04:15

We are one of the lowest nations in the entire world when it comes to persecution. We're we're pretty low on the list. There are a lot that are a lot higher than us. We do not receive much systemic or social persecution, either from the government or from our society. That doesn't mean that there's no that doesn't mean that there's no resistance, that everybody loves a Christian.

Luke: 04:42

Doesn't mean that. But we don't receive systemic, ongoing persecution that threatens our livelihood, our life, our well-being, our health, those things are not generally at risk. And so this is a hard passage to preach because the likelihood of us experiencing the level of persecution described here in the book of Acts or being put in a position where we might be said, Repent or to say, Deny Jesus or I will kill you, that's not out of the realm of possibility. Somebody here that could be what happens to you. But the likelihood, the percentage of it is pretty low.

Luke: 05:26

We're here in The United States. We're not generally persecuted at a large scale. Doesn't mean that you may not have had maybe some negative experiences like I have because of your faith. You know, I think I try and think back like, what's a level of persecution I experienced? I worked for a general contracting company one of the summers in between school, college, Bible college, I was studying.

Luke: 05:52

I was back in Ohio. I was working for a general contractor company, and there was this guy at the job site, and he, for some reason, felt it was appropriate to call me baby Jesus. You know, so like I'd be across the, like, job site, he'd be like, baby Jesus, bring me a two by four. I'm like you know, wasn't my favorite. You know?

Luke: 06:19

So but, like, if that's the level of, like, you know, persecution that, like, I can you know, that, like, there's there's not many other things that even go alongside of that. I could think of other few things, but they don't they don't rise to a level of seriousness. And so this is a hard passage to preach because I simply know that it's not that you won't experience consequences necessarily for your faith, but the level that you are likely to experience is not always going to be that big. And so how do we talk about this? How do we understand this passage?

Luke: 06:59

And I think there's two general errors that we can fall into when we're talking about passages like what Jesus said in the book of John and when we look at the passage in the book of Acts. There's two errors I think we can fall into. The first error is to say, But Luke, we are persecuted. The the American church is under fire. We're we're an absolutely heavily persecuted group.

Luke: 07:23

The world is coming after us. Don't you know? And I I I have to disagree with you. You might disagree with me, but I think that what we are experiencing is not persecution, but I think we are experiencing the slow ongoing death of what I call or many call cultural Christianity. Cultural Christianity is this idea that culture, particularly American culture, and people embraced the appearance of Christian religion without necessarily embracing a personal relationship with Jesus.

Luke: 08:03

This kind of peaked in the late 1950s, early 1960s. Cultural Christianity was everywhere. This was the peak, I think 1959 was the peak of church attendance in The United States. It was in such a circumstance that if you did not go to church on Sunday, you were considered like a social outcast. Right?

Luke: 08:26

This is the height of the blue laws. This is a time and place where it was scandalous, if anybody remembers, I don't remember, but I've been told that when JFK was elected president, it was scandalous that he was Catholic. Right? So, like, the fact that, like, we're the the religion and Christianity played such a major role in the public square that it was it was it was divisive as to whether or not a leader was Catholic or Protestant. Now we're just happy if they even kind of pretend to follow God.

Luke: 09:06

And here's what we need to understand is that while, yes, there were some very good things that happened in there, I'm not going to paint with a with a black and white brush that that was all bad or something like that. But I do think we need to have an understanding that a lot of it was for appearance. A lot of it was for social standing. A lot of it was going with the times. I could go on and on talking about cultural Christianity, but the point is that since that time, culture has shifted.

Luke: 09:40

Right? Christianity is no longer the centerpiece of the public square. It does not necessarily earn you points to be a Christian anymore. And in some circles, it loses you points. And what we've experienced here in The United States is the death of cultural Christianity.

Luke: 10:01

And what I'm trying to say here or understand is that the world has shifted, but that doesn't necessarily mean that we are persecuted. Here's another way of thinking about it. Because our culture had an appearance of agreement, we now in comparison might be tempted to feel that we're being persecuted. Because the world at one point seemed to be in such loud agreement and affirmation of what we believed and of Jesus, even though it largely at many levels was surface level, now that they seem to be so opposed in disagreement with us, it's now tempting to say, Oh, they're persecuting us. And Pastor Cameron talked about this two weeks ago.

Luke: 10:46

If you want to have greater extensive listening or reading about this, Pastor Cameron talked about this two weeks ago in his sermon. But we're not generally persecuted here. Disagreement is not persecution. And so I don't think that it is I don't think it is true for me to lean in and say, Ah, church, you are persecuted. It might make us feel good, but I don't know that that's necessarily true that we're experiencing ongoing systemic persecution.

Luke: 11:16

Second way of addressing this is the second error is to say, well, if the world doesn't hate you, you must not be living radically enough. And now I've heard this sermon quite a few times, and there is a good truth to that. Right? Like, we do need to consider, am I dying to self? Is Christianity more than just a box I tick on a survey or a status I put on social media?

Luke: 11:44

Is Christianity something that rules and changes my life? But I do think that the error of this, like, you if you're not living a true Christian unless you got tons of people hating you, I think that's not really the point. I think that can create a spirit of contentiousness, a spirit that kind of looks and says, I'm going to look for an opportunity to be a Christian in such a way that makes people dislike me. And that's not what we're after. Paul talks about, he says, Live at peace with all people as far as it is up to you.

Luke: 12:23

Right? Paul was very concerned. He said he wanted the Christians to be in good standing. Don't let them dislike you because you do dislikable things. Let them dislike you because you follow Christ.

Luke: 12:36

Right? So I don't think that we should lean into this place where we try and make people dislike us or we become obnoxious, but we certainly must hold to our faith. Is kind of a big not big thing here, but this is a point I'm kind of getting at. Disagreement or advocacy for an opposing view is not persecution. It's a symptom of the world's lostness.

Luke: 13:05

Right? The fact that the world doesn't understand our convictions around life, sexuality, truth, what is good, what is godly, what is beautiful, is not a thing just because they disagree with us, just because they dislike our opinion, just because they say it loudly in the comments, is not persecution. It's just a symptom of the fact that they are lost and blind and in need of a savior. And I think we need to have that understanding. If Jesus said that the world would hate us, then we shouldn't be upset or surprised when the world disagrees with us.

Luke: 13:45

And I think we have to have a little bit of tolerance and understanding that the world is going to disagree with us because they are lost. And we need to have a confidence to stand in the truth. So like I said, if you want to learn more about this, learn more about the persecuted church and the difference of what the experience of the church is elsewhere in the world, listen to Pastor Cameron's sermon from two weeks ago. But we, today, are able to get on here. We're able to say what we want to say.

Luke: 14:17

We're able to gather without fear. We're able to post what we think and what we say from the stage. The government's not going to stop us or censor us. There are other places where if the government knows their meeting, they're going to break them up. If the government were to get ahold of an online sermon that didn't agree with what the government said, they would be shut down.

Luke: 14:38

I think we need to have an understanding of where we are in the privileges that we have at this time. And so if we are so different, if we're so far removed from the context of the early church, where the early church was in constant fear for their lives, what then do we have to learn from the first martyr of the church? This is the question that I want us to answer is what do we need to learn? What is in this story? What from the example of Stephen and the church do we have to gain?

Luke: 15:13

How do our lives change because of what Stephen did and how we are called to live? So let's dig into this. We're going to be in Acts six:eight. And I think we do indeed have something to learn. Acts six:eight.

Luke: 15:32

It starts off with these two words, and Stephen. And we're like, wait, who's Steven? Right? All of a sudden, they're talking about Steven, and Steven is all of a sudden on the scene, and he's doing things. Steven, if we weren't paying attention or we missed it, if we go back to verse five of chapter six, the disciples are picking some leaders, they're picking the seven, and at the very beginning of that, they say, What they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip.

Luke: 16:06

And it goes on and on. And so the disciples, Stephen, was one of the people, one of the followers of Jesus. He had maybe been following Jesus for a while. Jesus had many disciples besides the 12. So Stephen might have been someone who was not one of the 12, but had been around for a little bit while.

Luke: 16:26

Maybe Stephen had come to know Jesus after His resurrection, after His ministry. Right? We don't really know, but we know that Stephen was well enough, mature enough, and godly enough that he was set to be in a leadership position. And then he goes on, and it describes this in verse eight. What is Stephen doing?

Luke: 16:48

Full of grace and power. He was doing great wonders as signs among the people. And then some of those who belong to the synagogue of the free men, as it was called, and of the Cyrenians and the Alexandrians and of those from Sicilia and Asia rose up and disputed with him. But they could not withstand the wisdom of the spirit with which he was speaking, and they secretly instigated men who said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against the temple or against God. And so Stephen, what's he doing?

Luke: 17:28

He's going around healing people, he's teaching, and he's doing so with power. He's meeting people, and they're encountering the Gospel. And then the religious teachers hear him, they don't like his message, And then they stir up trouble to get false accusations, to get him falsely arrested. Does this sound like somebody else in the Bible? Right?

Luke: 17:53

Doesn't this sound like Jesus himself? Jesus walking around, going and teaching in power, confounding those who were like they were just like trying to argue with him and they couldn't. And then they got frustrated and they eventually arrested him falsely and had him falsely executed. Stephen is doing and carrying on the same ministry that Jesus started. It hasn't stopped.

Luke: 18:19

It's simply continued. And so he is accused, and then he is brought before the Sanhedrin, and he's leveled with these two accusations. Says, You are being blasphemous. Verse 12, They stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him. And they brought him before the council.

Luke: 18:41

And they set up false witnesses who said, this man never ceases to speak against this holy place, the temple, and the law. 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.' And gazing at him, all who sat in council saw that his face was like that of an angel. Stephen is grabbed off the street, brought before the religious council, and they accuse them. They're like, Are you speaking ill against the temple? Are you speaking ill against Moses and the law?

Luke: 19:19

Are you saying false things? Are you being blasphemous, destroying the things that God has told us long ago? And I can just imagine as they ask that question, they all look at Stephen, and it says that he has a face of an angel. I don't know what that means. My imagination, because I grew up in a certain time, goes to Touched by an Angel.

Luke: 19:43

If anybody remember that show? You know, anytime they, like, became an angel, there was just about, like, 500 bright lights behind them. Right? And so, I have like, that's what comes to my mind. Right?

Luke: 19:54

It's just he must have been glowing or something. We don't really know exactly what this means. But we do get a sense. Right? What is an angel anyways?

Luke: 20:05

Right? If you ever wondered what that word means, angel simply means messenger. A messenger from God. And so there's Stephen being accused, being saying, hey, do you have a defense for yourself? Something bad is going to happen to you if you don't defend yourself.

Luke: 20:26

And Stephen is being filled up not with a defense for himself, but with a message. He's got something to say. It doesn't necessarily have to pertain to getting himself out of the hot water that he's in, but it has something, a message for those that he is talking to. In the middle of this, I wonder, I just kind of wonder if Stephen, if he had been around or if he had heard or if he had heard the disciples recount what Jesus had said in Luke chapter 21. Luke chapter 21 verse 12.

Luke: 21:01

Jesus said these words. He said, but all this, before all this, they will lay their hands on you and they will persecute you, delivering you to the synagogues and to the prisons, and you will be brought before the kings and the governors for my name's sake. And this will be your opportunity to what? To bear witness. Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand.

Luke: 21:28

Don't prepare beforehand how you're going to answer. For I will give your mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends. And some of you, they will be will even be put to death. Jesus is saying, I will be with you in those moments.

Luke: 21:55

The moments where persecution does come, where you are put on the spot and you are called to give a witness, called to give an answer for your following me, don't worry, I'm going to be there. And some of you, some of you might even die. And I wonder if Stephen had those words, that promise of Jesus in his mind as he prepared to say what he would say next. Because the very next verse, verse seven, verse one out of chapter seven, the high priest said, Are those things so? And Stephen launches in to a sermon.

Luke: 22:38

He doesn't simply say yes. He doesn't say, No, no, no. You misunderstood me. No, he begins to tell a story. He starts at the beginning.

Luke: 22:47

He talks about Father Abraham. Abraham being a man called out from his land. God told him, I'm going to make you into a great nation. I'm going to give you a land. Abraham went.

Luke: 22:59

He was faithful. Abraham eventually received the promised son, but he did not receive the land. He had sons and no sons had sons. And eventually there was a man named Joseph who was born. And Joseph, he was sold into slavery, an awful opportunity, an awful thing.

Luke: 23:18

But God was faithful to him in that. God brought Joseph to Egypt, and he was blessed. He was given favor. He became high in position, and he was eventually able to provide for his brothers, rescue the early nation of Israel from famine because of his blessing. God had used an awful situation in order to bring about something good.

Luke: 23:42

But then once again, Egypt, the family of Israel moves to Egypt. The people of God are there. They grow. They get bigger in number and number until there becomes a pharaoh who no longer remembers Joseph, no longer has positive feelings towards these Israelites. He begins to enslave them.

Luke: 24:00

He begins to kill their young children so that they don't get larger and bigger so that they don't overthrow them. All this is the story of of Israel. All of this is being told. And then Moses is raised up, and he is brought to be a faithful and faithful servant of the Lord. He has his own turmoils.

Luke: 24:27

He leaves Egypt. He returns to Egypt, and he comes to deliver the people, and delivers them right away. No. Right? If you remember the story we preached through Exodus last year, Stephen here highlights he's gotten to this point.

Luke: 24:45

Notice that Stephen has said nothing wrong, nothing against Moses. He said nothing against the temple. He's like he's like, no, no. Moses is great. Joseph is great.

Luke: 24:56

Abraham is great. But then Stephen says something about the story. He brings up a part of the story that's often overlooked In chapter seven, verse 35, this is what Stephen says. He says, This Moses, this Moses who you guys love so much, they rejected. The people of Israel rejected Moses saying, Who made you ruler and judge?

Luke: 25:26

This man God sent us as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of an angel who appeared to him in the bush. This man led them out and performing wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea, in the wilderness for forty years. This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, God will raise up from you a prophet like me from you brothers. Prophet whose name is Jesus. Verse 38.

Luke: 25:50

And this is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness when the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai and with our fathers, he received living oracles given to us. And our fathers refused to obey him but thrust him aside in their hearts and they turned to Egypt. Stephen highlights. He's like, you want to talk about Moses? Moses was great.

Luke: 26:13

He was a man of the Lord. He received the law. He was faithful to the Lord. But our fathers were not always faithful. Our fathers rejected him.

Luke: 26:22

Our fathers did not listen to the law. Our fathers pushed him aside. Our fathers built idols. They they quickly turned aside and said, well, who is this God that led us out of Egypt? Let's build a calf.

Luke: 26:36

That's the God that led us out of Egypt. They turned aside. They were not faithful. They were stubborn. And then he goes on.

Luke: 26:47

And in verse 49, Stephen says this, he turns his attention from talking about Moses and the law, and he begins to talk about the temple. And he's just like, You're accusing me of having talked against the temple, but let me quote you God. He's going to quote the words of the Lord from the prophet, and he said, This is what God says about the temple. Heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me?

Luke: 27:16

Says the Lord. Or what is the place of my rest? Did not my hand make all these things? God's saying, You think I'm contained by a building? I built the universe.

Luke: 27:30

Like, sure, I'll be in the temple, but don't think that the temple and me are the same thing. Don't think that I'm stuck in the temple. And so Stephen here, he really spoken negatively against Moses or the temple? No, he's just simply counted the story from the Bible. He simply recounted the story of the people of Israel.

Luke: 27:57

And then he gets to this point because he begins to say this. Stephen wasn't speaking against Moses, the law, the temple, or God. He was speaking against those men in that room. Look what he says in the next very next verse. You stiff necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit as your fathers did.

Luke: 28:27

So do you. You're just like our ancestors in in the wilderness, resisting the man of God that God has sent. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of Jesus, the righteous one whom you have now betrayed and murdered. You who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.

Luke: 28:57

Stephen asked to give an account, says, no, no, no. You misunderstand me. I'm not preaching against Moses and the temple. I'm preaching against you. I'm preaching that Jesus Christ is the Lord and Savior, the promised prophet who Moses promised, the righteous one of the Lord has come, and you guys didn't see it.

Luke: 29:21

And rather than repenting, rather than the people in the room saying, Oh my gosh, we have been stiff necked, we have closed our ears. What do they do? They close their ears harder. Verse 54. Now when they heard these things, they were enraged and they ground their teeth at Him.

Luke: 29:39

But He, He was full of the Holy Spirit and He gazed into heaven and He saw the glory of God and He saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. But they cried out in a loud voice, and they stopped their ears and they rushed together at him. I imagine a courtroom, a council like this being orderly, having rules, having governors, needing to make a vote. Do we find this person guilty?

Luke: 30:10

But they don't even do that. They just begin to smash their ears and grind their teeth, and they get so mad that they throw their chairs down and they rush towards him and grab him. And then they take him to the outskirts out of the city and they stone him. They cast him out of the city, stoned him, and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out.

Luke: 30:36

This is what Stephen said, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 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. Verse eight, chapter eight, And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day such a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the apostles.

Luke: 31:04

It didn't stop with the stoning of Stephen. The mob grew, and they eventually drove out all the Christians except the apostles from the city of Jerusalem. So that's the story of Stephen, the story of one of the biggest and most significant persecutions of the early church early on. What then are we to gain from this? Right?

Luke: 31:31

That's the question. What does this tell us about our faith? How we are to live here and now? The very first thing that I would have for us to glean from this passage to say is that we are witnesses for Jesus above everything else. Right?

Luke: 31:52

If we're to be a witness of something, it should be Jesus. There are a thousand good things in this world. There are a lot of good causes. There are a lot of things to be passionate about. And the world has made us very aware of all of them through our social media and through phone, where the world has gotten smaller but more complex.

Luke: 32:15

We know so much more, and it's so easy to be passionate about so many things. I'm not saying to not be passionate about causes, not to be passionate about problems in this world. But I am saying that there is one person above all those things that ought to rank, and that's Jesus. We ought to be witnesses for him and the gospel. And I did some research this week.

Luke: 32:44

I was looking at different studies and things of like, how are Christians perceived? What does the world, what does the average American think about Christians? And if you asked a non Christian if they liked, if they had positive thoughts about Jesus, about half of them would say yes. Not being religious, not believing in God, they would be, Oh yeah, I like Jesus. He's pretty good.

Luke: 33:15

If you ask them if they had positive feelings towards a Christian like us in this room or a local church, only a quarter of them would say, Yeah, Christians are okay. 75% of people asked if they had positive feelings towards Christians are like, No, don't really like them all that much. When asked why people are not believers, what keeps them from exploring faith and becoming a Christian, You know what the number one answer is every single time? Hypocrisy. Judgmentalism.

Luke: 33:53

There's other things in there, too. It's not the only reason, but it consistently ranks as the number one reason that people stay away from the church, is they are afraid of hypocrisy and being judged. That's an awful reputation. I don't want us to be known for that. I want us to be known for being radically on fire for Jesus.

Luke: 34:20

What was Stephen known for? Stephen was known for going out and doing the things that Jesus did. Stephen was going around and conducting ministry. He was preaching the gospel. He was going out and healing and caring for people.

Luke: 34:39

And then he was persecuted for it. If someone here here's a question that I think we need to wrestle with. If someone followed me around for a week, and they watched my words, they watched my time, they watched the things that I'm passionate about, what would they conclude that I am a witness for? If we looked at all your messages, if we looked at what you post about, if we looked at what you talk about, the things that get you angry, the things that get you excited, would Jesus make the list? If God came into earth and he died for you so that you might have eternal life, that's a pretty big deal.

Luke: 35:34

That's a life altering deal. We've been given an eternal life that starts now at salvation and goes on for eternity. We ought to live into it now here where we're at. And so I think we need to wrestle with like, is it obvious? Can other people do other people know that I'm a Christian?

Luke: 35:57

Do people can they tell from my life? I think a small application, but one that I've shared a couple times this morning with our volunteers, I think is worth mentioning. There's that passage, that moment in the story where Stephen looks up and he sees Jesus in heaven. And it's an interesting part in the passage because it describes Jesus being on the right hand of the throne, which is very much consistent with how he's often described. But this is the one passage where he's described as standing.

Luke: 36:41

Almost every other passage describes as Christ seated at the right hand of the throne. But instead, here he's standing. And there's a lot of debate and curiosity about like, Well, why does it say he's standing? What's the significance of that? And I think that the bare minimum significance of it is that Jesus was paying attention.

Luke: 37:02

Jesus knew what was going on with Stephen. Jesus knew what Stephen was doing. Jesus cared about what Stephen was saying. God Jesus absolutely was involved. Jesus was paying attention.

Luke: 37:20

And I think we need to remember that Stephen gave a testimony to one person, Jesus who stood to bear witness, and we do the same. We live one life. One life to bear witness. A life of actions, a life of relationships, a life of words, a life of values, a life of decisions that we make. Does my life bear witness to Jesus?

Luke: 37:47

And Jesus is watching it. Jesus cares about how we live our lives, what we do, what we say, and we ought to be focused on that. We do things for an audience of one: Jesus. The final thing that I think we should take away from this passage that we should wrestle with as Christians who live in this time and place is to say, or well, is to understand that God uses suffering and sacrifice to advance his kingdom. This is the most upside down thing.

Luke: 38:26

It's so confusing. But if we look at the story of Stephen, it's a pretty sad one, right? Stephen's doing ministry. He gets arrested. He speaks the truth.

Luke: 38:37

He's killed. Persecution happens. The church is scattered. It doesn't really end with a good ending. If we went and saw that in a movie theater, we'd be like, well, was gosh darn depressing.

Luke: 38:51

Right? But is it? What does it say in verse one of chapter eight? On that day, there arose great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were scattered. The believers were scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria.

Luke: 39:10

Where have we heard that formulation before? Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria. Is it not when Jesus, before he left, he said, You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and the ends of the world. The people were scattered. Scattered like what?

Luke: 39:32

Like seed. Yesterday, I was planting some seed. I was putting out some grass seed in the back of my lawn where there's some bare spots and it's been tore up. And you just scatter it, just kind of everywhere, just kind of throwing it everywhere. Here, the disciples are scattered like seed out into the world, made the move out of Jerusalem and made to go everywhere else.

Luke: 40:01

And with them goes the Gospel. With them goes the Kingdom of God. I think two of what Jesus said in John twelve twenty four-twenty five, Jesus said this of Himself. He said, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.

Luke: 40:28

Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Jesus speaking of himself, he says, I need to die. I need to be buried like a seed into the ground so that I might bear much fruit. And so we too, as disciples, are called to die to ourselves so that we might bear much fruit. When we make sacrifices, just as God used Jesus' sacrifice to achieve the gospel, He uses our sacrifices to advance the gospel.

Luke: 41:01

We're called as Christians to die to ourselves, To say, How do I lose my life so that I might find it? How do I become like a seed that is scattered that goes into the ground that dies to myself so I might bear much fruit? Now, we live in a place where the likelihood of us experiencing a circumstance where we might die for our faith is low. And so having to wrestle with the question of, would I would I be like Stephen? Would I be able to say yes to Jesus and know that that was my faith?

Luke: 41:40

Would I be able to do it? By faith, hopefully. But it's such a hypothetical. It's so abstract that it's hard for us to even truly wrestle with it. But what we can wrestle with is would I truly be willing to die if I'm not willing to die to myself by sacrificing something?

Luke: 42:06

If I'm not willing to sacrifice my time, if I'm not willing to sacrifice money, if I'm not willing to willing to sacrifice my reputation, if I'm not willing to sacrifice being liked by certain people, would I truly be willing to die for Christ if I'm not willing to sacrifice these smaller things? And I think a question I have for you, a question I have for all of us this week is to say, Lord Jesus, is there a sacrifice you would have me make? Is there something that you want me to do, a way I can speak of you louder, a way that I can make my life proclaim you? Is there a way for me to be a witness? Is there a way for me to advance your kingdom by making a sacrifice?

Luke: 42:55

And if you are willing to pray that prayer, I bet you God will answer it. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, I ask that you would help us to be a church that follows hard after you, a church that is unashamed of the gospel, a church that is consistent to put you first. Lord, I pray for our reputation in this city, in this county. Might we be known for loving people.

Luke: 43:41

Might we be known for feeding people. Might we be known for being like your son, Jesus. Lord, help us to be like that. Lord, we want to look to You and live like You. Lord, we pause and we pray for churches around the world today that do not get to meet with the openness and the freedom that we do.

Luke: 44:12

Lord, we pray that Your Spirit would continue to advance Your kingdom regardless of the opposition. Lord, that You would honor and care for those who make sacrifices of their lives and their livelihood and their wealth and their safety. Lord, we pray for missionaries who are out spreading the gospel to those who do not yet know. Lord, I pray that you would make us here, help us to see Jamestown, Lakewood, Chautauqua County, Warren County with your eyes. Help us to see the lostness of the world around us and help our heart to break for it so that we might proclaim the good news to those who need to hear it.

Luke: 44:53

Lord, do all of these things through your spirit. In Jesus' name, we pray.