Latest / Bible in a Year with Jack Graham / A New Enemy - The Book of Acts

Transcript

A New Enemy - The Book of Acts · Bible in a Year with Jack Graham

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Let us pray. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Acts 7.59 My God,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: in the same way Stephen displayed an unwavering commitment to
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: his convictions, unlock this level of conviction in my life.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: In the face of authorities with the power to execute,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Stephen remained strong as he stood and expressed what he
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: knew to be the truth, both about Jesus and the
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: religious leader's stubborn hearts. In the same way, allow my
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: life to resemble the same spirit and strength that Stephen possessed.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: May my life prove that I have the presence of
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: God in it. May my life prove that I base
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: my commitment on a biblical foundation. Allow me to spot
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: out and see the error of past thinking and old
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: ways of being. Allow my life to stay steadfast as
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: I keep my eyes on you, Jesus. For I declare
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: that commitment moves past the mind and emotions and goes
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: straight to the will. Thank you for my commitment. that
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: brings my mind and emotions into alignment to achieve my
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: purpose at all cost. Like Stephen, I will look up
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: to the heavens to gain my strength and encouragement. In Jesus' name. Amen.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: A New Enemy In our last story, the apostles were
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: beaten and imprisoned for preaching the name of Jesus, healing
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: the sick and feeding the poor.
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: Just as their Lord before them, the apostles found themselves
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: suffering for the sake of restoration. Now we see a
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: new character arise. A man named Stephan comes onto the
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: scene to boldly proclaim the good news of Christ. However,
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: there is an evil lurking near. A man by the
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: name of Saul watches and waits for his opportunity to
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: strike Stephan and any Christian who dare mention the name
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: of Jesus. Inspired by the book of Acts.
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: Hello, I'm Jack Graham with today's episode of the Bible
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: in a Year podcast. But before we begin, I want
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: to let you know about a unique e-book that's yours
• 3:04
  Speaker 4: to download absolutely free today. It's called Breaking Free from Stress.
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: And my prayer is that it will help you conquer
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: the daily tasks and pressures and burdens that bring stress
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: in your life. Download your free copy of Breaking Free
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: from Stress today by visiting jackgraham.org slash stress. That's jackram.org
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: slash stress. In our last time together, we heard about
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: the religious leaders as they threatened the apostles' teaching and
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: put them in jail. God then sent an angel to
• 3:39
  Speaker 4: open the prison gates and send them to the temple again,
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: preaching the gospel of Jesus. Their opponents could find no
• 3:46
  Speaker 4: real reason to keep them in prison, and at the
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: counsel of one of their own, Gamaliel, they released the apostles.
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: but only after beating them and warning them to never
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: speak about the name of Jesus again. Of course, the
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: apostles would never stop. You might as well tell the
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: sun to stop shining. And they continued preaching the gospel
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: of Christ and winning more and more people to a
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: relationship with Christ, more souls for Jesus. Today, we'll hear
• 4:14
  Speaker 4: about Stephen. the first Christian martyr who spoke boldly of
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: Christ and paid the ultimate sacrifice and price. We'll also
• 4:22
  Speaker 4: meet a new enemy to the gospel, a zealous young
• 4:25
  Speaker 4: rabbi named Saul, who will lead the hunt for any
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: who would proclaim the name of Jesus, persecuting Christians. So
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: let's listen now to this reading from the book of Acts.
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: Jews, Greeks, Romans, and many others were catching on to
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: the story of Jesus and One by one they joined
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: the apostles of Jesus. Together they served their communities and
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: one another. They were committed to the feeding of orphans
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: and widows, and daily they met with one another to
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: pray and seek the truth of God. The church was
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: becoming so large that the disciples could no longer meet
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: the needs of everyone on their own. So they appointed
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: men of good reputation and strong faith to meet the
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: needs of the poor and destitute. Among these men was
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: a man named Stephan. a man filled with God's spirit
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: and boldness. Daily, Stephan would enter into the temple gates
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: and preach the gospel. His words were like sweet honey
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: to weary hearts. He spoke of forgiveness, empowerment, and repentance. However,
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: the enemy was at work among the religious leaders. They
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: conspired against Stephan and spread false rumors about his character. Yet,
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: Stephan seemed immune to such dissension. He continued to serve, preach,
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: and love. No argument could come against the truth he proclaimed,
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: and no rumor could undermine his good reputation as an
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: honest man. They brought him before a court of leaders
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: and judged him for his words. Do you speak out
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: against Moses and Abraham?
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: They asked.
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: Isn't your devotion to this Jesus an affront against our ancestors?
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: Stephan looked around the room and saw scowls like wolves.
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: Jesus was brought before this very court before he was crucified.
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: He boldly stood before them and spoke only the truth.
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: So Stephan would do the same, no matter the cost.
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: Stephan closed his eyes and prayed to the Lord for
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: a moment. Then he lifted his eyes to all the men.
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: You stiff-necked people. You are unclean in your hearts and ears.
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: How long will you resist the Spirit of God speaking
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: to you? It was your fathers who killed the prophets
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: of old, and it is you who follow in their
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: footsteps by slaying the Messiah himself. You hold to the
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: words of Moses so tightly, but you have missed their
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: true meaning. The entire room erupted in anger. Stefan could
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: not even take a second breath before he was.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: Stormed by temple guards.
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: A club flew straight to his jaw as he fell
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: to the floor, and he was bound in ropes. Stefan
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: was tackled to the floor. As he took kicks to
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: his face and ribs, he peered towards the door. A
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: man was standing at the entrance, smiling at him with
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: a crooked grin. the man who had conspired against him
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: and many others, the terror of all Christians, Saul of Tarsus.
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: Stephan was drug by his feet out beyond the gates
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: of Jerusalem. An angry mob of temple-goers and Pharisees followed
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: as the guards tied Stephan to a pole facing the crowd.
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: Stephan scanned his surroundings. They were outside the city gates,
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: which could only mean one thing, stoning. Stephan's bruised eyes
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: watched as men picked up rocks the size of their fists.
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: Evil grins and angry scowls surrounded him. Stephan breathed in
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: deeply and looked up to heaven. He fixed his gaze
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: firmly to the skies, directing his heart towards his Lord.'
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: I see the King of Glory,' Stephan said as tears
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: streamed down his face.' I see the heavens opened and
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: the Son of God standing at the right hand of
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: the Father.' As Stefan yelled this, the crowd erupted in
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: battle cries and threw their stones. One stone was hurled
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: directly at his chest, cracking his ribs and sternum. Another
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: cracked his knee and shin. Stefan gave out a blood-curdling scream.
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: Stefan had his gaze firmly fixed towards heaven. As the
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: barrage of stones flew through the air, Stefan whispered, Lord,
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: do not hold this against them. Until another stone hit
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: his temple, knocking him out. Stones continued to fly towards
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: Stefan's lifeless body until he was reduced to a pile
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: of flesh and broken bones. There, behind the crowd, holding
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: people's coats and garments, was Saul of Tarsus. As people
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: took back their clothes and walked away, Paul stepped forward
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: to observe Stefan's mangled corpse.
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: Paul spat at it.
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: Blasphemous Christian, he hissed. Then he turned away. hell-bent on
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: destroying and murdering every last man, woman, and child who
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: dared proclaim the name of Jesus.
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: As we begin today's reading, we find a growing number
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: of Christian believers. The Holy Spirit is working through the
• 9:23
  Speaker 4: disciples to bring more and more people to a faith
• 9:26
  Speaker 4: in Christ and into the fellowship of the church. This church,
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: the community of faith, loved one another and served with
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: the heart of Christ, caring for those in need, including
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: the widows among them. As the church grew, this task
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: became too much for the apostles to take on alone,
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: so seven godly men were selected and appointed as deacons.
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: These deacons would handle the care of the community and
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: the church. But just as the size and influence of
• 9:54
  Speaker 4: the church was growing, even winning many religious leaders and
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: priests to Christ, so also also was the hatred of
• 10:01
  Speaker 4: those who opposed the gospel, who wanted to destroy this movement,
• 10:05
  Speaker 4: the movement of Jesus Christ. We learn that one of
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: the seven men chosen to serve the church was a
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: man named Stephen. What a man! He was filled with
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: the Holy Spirit and had a desire to spread the
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: good news of the gospel. Soon Stephen began facing stiff opposition,
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: and those trying to discredit him brought false charges of
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: blasphemy against him because they could not tear down his arguments.
• 10:31
  Speaker 4: They accused Stephen of speaking against Moses and the law
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: and saying Jesus would destroy their customs and places of worship.
• 10:39
  Speaker 4: It is a reminder to us that the enemy does
• 10:42
  Speaker 4: not fight fair. The devil knows he is no match
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: for God's truth, and so he often attacks with lies,
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: just as he did with Adam and Eve in the garden.
• 10:52
  Speaker 4: These lies and half-truths are an attempt to stop God's
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: plan and God's purposes. Stephen was taken before the high
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: priest and asked if he was in fact saying such things.
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: He could have simply denied Jesus and tried to walk
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: away by explaining himself. But Stephen saw this as an opportunity,
• 11:10
  Speaker 4: an opportunity to boldly preach Jesus before a crowd of people.
• 11:14
  Speaker 4: And that's exactly what he did. He went all the
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: way back in the scriptures to Abraham and traced the
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: line of God's promise to the father of the Jewish
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: faith all the way to the Jewish Messiah. It is
• 11:26
  Speaker 4: quite a Bible study when you hear it, when you
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: read it. He was showing them that everything written in
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: the scriptures, both the law and the prophets, was leading
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: up and pointing to Christ, who is the fulfillment of
• 11:38
  Speaker 4: it all. And yet, the people listening, so many of them,
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: were still blind to the truth. rejecting Jesus, rejecting God's word.
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: And just as they killed the prophets who spoke God's
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: word and announced the Messiah's coming, they will now kill
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: one of God's preachers. The words of Stephen enraged the
• 11:58
  Speaker 4: council and those gathered and were told that they were
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: grinding their teeth. They were just filled with rage. This
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: is how much they hated hearing the truth. Then in
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: Acts 7.55, here's what we read. But he, that is Stephen,
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: hand of God. What encouragement just to see a little
• 12:23
  Speaker 4: bit of heaven, a glimpse of God's glory. But rather
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: than keep the vision to himself and hold on to
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: the comfort of knowing that he was right, Stephen again
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: spoke to the crowd, telling them what he was seeing.
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: It was too much for them. So they rushed him,
• 12:38
  Speaker 4: took him outside the city to be stoned. And there
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: he was martyred. Stephen became the first of many Christian
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: martyrs that day. Just as Jesus had told the disciples
• 12:49
  Speaker 4: before he ascended that soon they would be taken where
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: they did not want to go, they would face persecution,
• 12:56
  Speaker 4: Stephen was then led to his death. And yet even
• 12:59
  Speaker 4: in that moment, he echoed the very words of Jesus
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: from the cross, Father, forgive them. Receive my spirit. When
• 13:10
  Speaker 4: we face opposition and resistance or cancellation, even persecution and
• 13:15
  Speaker 4: suffering for preaching the truth of the gospel, how are
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: we going to react? How will we respond? Will we
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: be courageous and confident or will we be cowardly? Will
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: we keep sharing Christ no matter the consequences? Will we
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: boldly stand for Christ in our generation? Will we see
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: the glory of God and experience the grace of God
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: and share that with others without compromise? What is our
• 13:42
  Speaker 4: attitude to those who hate the gospel or the gospel
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: that we preach? Do we fight back?
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: No.
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: In Christ, we submit our lives to God's hand and
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: seek forgiveness, even for those who may oppose us and
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: could even hurt us. Stephen, in the midst of these
• 13:58
  Speaker 4: tragic circumstances, did not waver. He gave his life to
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: follow Jesus all the way to heaven. Finally, as we
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: closed out today's reading, we met a man who would
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: soon break onto the scene as the most fierce enemy
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: of Christ and the church. A young man, a rabid
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: rabbi by the name of Saul, who stood and watched
• 14:21
  Speaker 4: as Stephen was stoned, even held the garments of those
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: who stoned them, he watched Stephen die. Saul hated the
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: followers of Jesus, and he was about to unleash a
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: level of persecution that early believers had not yet experienced.
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: But nothing could stop the movement of God's Spirit. Nothing
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: could stop the church of Jesus Christ. And the next time,
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: we'll hear how God worked through Philip to take the
• 14:45
  Speaker 4: good news to Samaria and even to the ends of
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: the earth. Let's pray together. Dear God, how we thank
• 14:53
  Speaker 4: you for the example of Stephen's courage. May our faith
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: be fearless. May we boldly proclaim the good news of Jesus.
• 15:01
  Speaker 4: May we live and stand for our faith no matter
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: what we may face. Give us your strength, O God,
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: and in the power of the Holy Spirit, may we
• 15:10
  Speaker 4: live and die for you and for your glory. In Jesus' name, amen.
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: Thank you for listening to today's Bible in a Year podcast.
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: Before we go, I want to let you know about
• 15:22
  Speaker 4: a unique e-book that's yours to download absolutely free today.
• 15:27
  Speaker 4: It's called Breaking Free from Stress, and my prayer is
• 15:31
  Speaker 4: that it will help you conquer the daily tasks and
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: pressures and burdens that bring stress into your life. Download
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: your free copy of Breaking Free from Stress today by
• 15:40
  Speaker 4: visiting jackgram.org slash stress. That's jackgram.org slash stress.